How Ta-Nehisi Coates Made Reparations Mainstream

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'I think it goes beyond reparations for black people, to getting people to look seriously at their history. It’s not like America is just distorting black history. It has a problem with history, period.'

It’s almost as if journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates has performed an act of cultural prestidigitation by inserting the issue of reparations into the national dialogue. Ever since he penned a blockbuster cover story on the subject in June 2014 forThe Atlantic, he’s been attracting large, often predominantly white crowds to hear his arguments on why descendants of enslaved Africans deserve compensation. Coates has convinced them to seriously consider an issue once confined to the radical fringes of black nationalism.

Some of those nationalists remain suspicious of Coates and his suddenly visible advocacy of reparations. He understands their suspicions, but insists he poses no threat to their provenance. Without their long-time and dedicated advocacy, he notes, the reparations issue would have disappeared entirely from the conversation. Coates is too modest here.

The crowds gathering to hear him are attracted by his ingenious reframing of the issue and the logic of his argument. Coates’ prescription is a relatively easy pill to swallow: He urges the passage of H.R. 40, the House bill repeatedly and fruitlessly submitted by Michigan Rep. John Conyers Jr., which would create a commission to examine the impact of slavery and suggest remedies.

Coates is convinced that any serious examination of the effects of slavery and Jim Crow could only conclude that there is a need for reparations. “I really don’t see any other option,” he told me. He’s just not sure that we live in the kind of America that would come to that conclusion. Coates and I sat down in a coffee shop in Chicago to discuss the reaction to his article.

What has been the most unexpected aspect of the reception to your Atlantic piece on reparations?

It’s so obvious now, but I think I underestimated the black community’s appetite to see their stuff done in a really serious way—well researched, substantiated, with some scholarship behind it.

Have you gotten different responses from white audiences than black audiences?

With white audiences it’s mostly, “I had no idea. I just had no idea.” And from black audiences, it’s, “I know I’ve been ripped off, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t know the science behind it.”

On my show on WVON radio, it was the topic of conversation for about three weeks straight.

I didn’t expect it to be such a revelation. There’s a strong body of academic research at this point—stuff that’s not even really contestable. But I felt like people who talked about reparations in the past didn’t stress certain things enough. Like, I really wanted to stress the housing issue as a present thing.

I’ve done several columns on reparations, but never with your contemporary perspective. That’s what makes your piece more compelling than talking about ancestral debt.

But the ancestral debt is true. It’s true. I’ve often joked that any of the more contemporary ills—like redlining—you can trace back to slavery. It’s the foundation. People just need to understand that it doesn’t end there.

Why did you think The Atlantic would be willing to expend resources on what a lot of people thought was a tangential issue?

You know, the funny thing is we never even had a discussion like that. It was never like, “This is crazy.” If [a freelancer] had just said, “Hey, I want to do an article on reparations,” it would have been much harder. But by the time I pitched that piece, I had been writing for The Atlantic for five years.

How did you get your start there?

The first piece I pitched was on Bill Cosby and that was in 2007. I was critiquing his whole respectability politics tour. [Soon after we spoke, Coates wrote an apology for downplaying the rape allegations against Cosby that have recently drawn attention.] That was my first interaction with a magazine.

Why did it take you so long to write for a magazine? Was it a cultural disconnect?

No, I think it’s a straight manifestation of a wealth gap. When I came in, the way to break into magazines was to do an unpaid internship. That’s just totally impossible for most black people. It’s the same thing with our loan problems. We don’t have, like, uncles, aunts, grandparents that say, “I’m gonna give you $500,000 to do this project,” or “I’m gonna support you while you live in L.A.”

Do you feel any responsibility to outline a tactical approach to reparations, or do you just make the argument and leave that to others?

People say, perhaps we just might allow black people to go to certain schools for free. Or we might have a bank that allows black people to get easy loans. I think all these things are possible. But the question I’m much more interested in is: What is the society that makes that possible? Put reparations within the political imagination.

I met Clyde Ross [a leader of the 1960s fight against predatory housing contracts in Chicago and a key figure in the Atlantic story] yesterday, and he said he doesn’t think this country will ever [pay reparations], so why waste our time? He said that to get reparations in this country, you better have a different court system, you better have a different media, you better have a different school system. And I think the beauty of his insight was that he knows that implementing reparations would require a totally different America.

So you think H.R. 40, the bill to form a reparations commission, would help serve that purpose?

Yeah. People would have to come for- ward on the Senate floor, on the House floor, and say, “Listen, this is what happened. Let’s have a straight-up argument about this. You show me your proof, I’ll show you my proof—and I’ve got plenty of proof.” That’s the beautiful thing: All of your Ivy schools, they all agree with me. I’m not from those places. But when you go to look at studies on economics, the evidence is pretty overwhelming.

So, if that evidence is presented and the country still refuses to act on it with any integrity, what’s Plan B?

I’m not too optimistic about going outside of the political order. I’m making arguments within the political order, as it exists. I think it goes beyond reparations for black people, to getting people to look seriously at their history. It’s not like America is just distorting black history. It has a problem with history, period. This is like a congenital thing…America the innocent; we’ve never done anything wrong. With something like climate change, [there’s a] problem of not being able to account for what we’ve done to the planet. It’s a general mindset. And it’s a suicidal mindset.

Speaking of history, how do you feel about reparations for Native Americans?

When you kill a massive amount of people and you push them off their land and then build a society on top of that, you probably owe them something.

Do you see any movement toward more acknowledgement of history?

I was happy to see that in a lot of the Ferguson reporting, people were talking about housing discrimination. They didn’t act as if Ferguson came out of nowhere.

Black nationalists have been working on the issue of reparations for a long time. Many expressed irritation to me that you were a “Johnny-come-lately.” Have you run into that?

I was raised in the black nationalist movement—that’s how I got my name. I could have gone into any nationalist gathering when I was 10 or 12 years old and heard anybody say, “You know they ripped us off and they built this entire country on our work.” If anything, it’s like I’m coming back to the church.

How a lot of folks probably feel is, “You know, I stood up and said this and they said I was crazy. And then here comes this guy.” And I understand how that can be frustrating. But this is an idea that is not about saving white people or making white people feel good. Ideas like that don’t get the same level of respect.

I hope the piece reminds people that just because something comes out of the radical wing doesn’t mean it’s crazy. Reason is not only found in the center. In 1860, the political center was not emancipation.

Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times, where he has worked since 1983. He is the host of "The Salim Muwakkil" show on WVON, Chicago's historic black radio station, and he wrote the text for the book HAROLD: Photographs from the Harold Washington Years.

i was being intentionally ridiculous to irk you because you're being absurd.

but yes, perhaps you should be a little more grateful to white people for freeing blacks from slavery in islamic countries, who resisted abolition. in the 1950s slavery of blacks was still legal in most arab countries, today only mauritania continues to enslave blacks on a large scale.

Posted by WookieInHeat on 2015-01-16 22:05:11

and you are serious...................

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-16 09:53:24

the largest slave trade in the history was the islamic slave trade under the ottoman empire, which lasted right up to the 1950s-60s. muslim countries only abolished slavery under intense pressure from western powers. whites were also victims of islamic slavery.

apparently you glossed over that part in history class.

Posted by WookieInHeat on 2015-01-15 22:19:42

mauritania still has slavery, blacks owned by arabs, why is it a poverty stricken third world dump if black slave labor a great nation makes?

Posted by WookieInHeat on 2015-01-15 22:16:23

you should be more grateful, whites were responsible for largely eradicating the global slave trade. in particular, muslims countries, which resisted the abolition of slavery into the 1980s. abolition, emancipation, human rights, all inventions of the white man. if anything you should be paying us for freeing your brothers and sisters from slavery by defeating the ottoman empire.

Posted by WookieInHeat on 2015-01-15 22:11:56

Slavery was profitable with internal returns in excess of 6%. In MS in the 1830's and 1840's, the internal returns exceeded 10% and over 15% in some years. The lecture below is about the Southern justification for slavery. There's also a lecture about its profitability.

For the people who are policed, but not protected, the police are their enemy, not their friend. For most all American Blacks, especially young men, any encounter with a cop has the potential for death. White Americans hardly ever feel that way.

Policing, prosecuting, and jailing Blacks in America has been done unfairly and unjustly. White young men in suburbs smoke much more dope and drink far more than Black young men everywhere, but far fewer are arrested and jailed. Were White boys in suburbs treated the same as Black boys in our cities, we'd have double or triple the number of people we have in jail.

The majority of homicides in America are done by Whites. The majority of people receiving monthly income from the government are Whites.

Posted by BigGuy on 2015-01-11 09:23:24

Do you understand the words, "per capita"?Whites commit more crimes, yes, because there are so many more whites in this country than blacks. But blacks commit crimes, murder especially, on a much higher per capta basis--- 50% of crime versus 13% of the population.Do you deny this? Yes or no?If you say, no, it suggests to me see that the Left will say and do anything to deny black ciminality. This does blacks themselves a grave disservice. You must face the problem before you can fix it.

Posted by busterthepug on 2015-01-11 08:25:52

The majority has hidden behind a false history comfortably. The benefits were enormous and reparations should be a reflection of the benefits.

Posted by Marty Bass on 2015-01-11 08:07:02

And I agree with you. I was speaking in the sense of the irrevocable . Not much unlike the lost life of a child to an irresponsible gun shooting. Kudos for having a plan to backup your belief.

Posted by Marty Bass on 2015-01-11 07:58:35

You poor misguided soul. Whites commit more minor and major crimes. Whites, especially those who run the financial sectors have committed crimes that hurt millions, did not even pick up a weapon...but they were clever enough to classify these acts as "immoral", but not criminal.Young Black males are suffering and the cause of this is more complicated than just no jobs and poverty. Your ignorance of this subject is probably not your fault. Who knows the woes of a man unless you are the man? Slavery has burdened a people in a way that there is no clear cut answer to the "why" of many things that occur.But, you are correct in some respect about.....responsibility and truth. The truth is that the conditions of a people were and are mostly controlled by those who could care less whether growth is accomplished. Thus, with that control, individual responsibility is stolen and remains with those who control.Reparations a pipe dream? No, it shouldn't be. It is deserved. But it should be that vehicle that initiates a responsibility. It should be there to help folk out of a vicious cycle that only grows as their means of escape dwindles.The "easy way out" is what is being done right now.......the majority calmly and casually ignores the problem.

Posted by Marty Bass on 2015-01-11 07:38:14

American blacks have been policed? So what?Do you deny that blacks, especially young black males, have cost and are costing America trillions in the costs of their homicides, crime, policing and legal costs?Do you deny that young black males commit upwards of fifty percent of the homicides in this country but form only a tiny percentage of the population?What causes this? It must be slavery, right?Blacks must accept the truth. They must take responsibility for their actions. They must heal themselves. Reparations are a pipe dream. They are the easy way out.And they will never happen.

Posted by busterthepug on 2015-01-11 06:39:21

NO. American Blacks have been policed. They have not been protected. You're advocating that people who are hurt by government policy, and whose ancestors were hurt by government policy, should, in addition to suffering their injuries, be charged for the costs incurred by the government to inflict those injuries upon them.

How generous of you. Surely you'd be happy to throw an anchor to a drowning man.

Welfare programs have succeeded. Whites in Appalachia, who hardly ever vote for Democrats who put through the programs, benefited the most.

What you've written is not a thought. Its a received prejudice that's not true. It's false.

Posted by BigGuy on 2015-01-11 00:56:37

The progeny of the top 1/100th of 1% start off life after college with over $10 million in financial assets, the top 1/10th of 1% start off with over $5 million and nearly all the top 1% start off with over a million in financial assets.

Have the federal government give all Blacks who are descendents of Blacks who were here before the civil war a million in US bonds upon reaching the age of 21, with a maximum withdrawal of $100,000 per year and a minimum withdrawal of $1000, with recipients given the right to transfer the wealth to their descendents and relatives.. Pay for giving away $30 trillion of wealth -- with a maximum spend through of $3 trillion a year -- by issuing $45+ trillion in bonds and by raising the marginal income tax rate upon the top 1% to 50%, no matter the source of income.

That'd be sufficient to pay reparations and would be beneficial for the economy as a whole. What prevents it is lack of political will.

Nearly all America, conservative and liberal, rich and poor, is terrified by the idea of giving large sums of wealth away to the "undeserving poor". We had no problem giving away enormous wealth to the "undeserving rich" by vastly reducing taxes upon capital gains, dividends, and interest. We'd have been far better off giving away wealth to the "undeserving poor".

Posted by BigGuy on 2015-01-11 00:42:24

no problem bro, the problem with these sites is they feel like they are right because everybody agrees with them. Which in the real world is the furthest thing from the truth. I just wish we could get better tuenout during midterm elections.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-10 13:26:44

Well I'm not going to prevent you from tilting at windmills, that's your prerogative.

You should recognize though the more money (and power) you concentrate within the central gov't, the larger the target and incentives you create for this cronyism you decry. Federal Gov't has never collected more tax revenue than it did last year. The previous record was the year before. Yet... just not enough. You will never hear the Dems say ok, that's the proper balance. Always more.

And if a Republican says why do we take the money away from the local level, bring it to Washington, take a slice, attach whatever mandate, and then send what's leftover back to the States, why do we do that? You probably don't make the connection. Because you know in your heart of hearts, Republicans just want to screw everybody. I gotcha buddy. What about the children? What about the poor and needy? I gotcha fatcat.

Economics isn't a zero sum game. It's just not. Power, on the other hand, is a zero sum game, hierarchical by definition. "Progressive" is actually the antithesis of progress, it's a centralizing philosophy. Operating through the force of law. Real progress comes from variation, which relies on "freedom", which isn't a cliche. It's the operative space where the powerful can't stop you. Schumpeter had it right.

About Black/White relations, what's germane to this thread: most White people do not have a clue what Blacks endure every day in the USA. Most Whites are unaware that they do not have a clue.

Your responses to White conservatives on threads like this may result in getting some of them to change. In my experience, about one out of every 5,000 readers became more empathetic to my views. I have not been successful in changing anyone's views, but I may have become a more effective writer and advocate. Most times, my time spent reading and writing upon political sites would have been better spent going to a 12 step meeting or going down to a VFW hall to sit and listen.

For American Blacks to rise above being working class, they have to train themselves to ignore White misbehavior. It is very stressful. Here in NYC, any Black guy who works in an office who commutes by subway will receive at least a dozen dozen dirty looks or negative non-verbal cues every work day during the commute and in the office. Elsewhere in the USA, its worse.

What middle class Blacks endure every day is what Barack Obama receives every day a thousand fold times or more. He handles all that abuse with courage and class. I think he shows more courage just getting up in the morning than all the Republicans in Congress show altogether all day.

Posted by BigGuy on 2015-01-06 21:42:36

Who is us? FYI...more Whites are on welfare,

Posted by Marty Bass on 2015-01-05 17:27:19

If he could only see how this hasn't diminished, but grown with the help of a corrupted capitalism. Albeit, there is no amount of money that can repair the damage done by slavery. Ancestors of slavery should be paid for their lifetimes.

Posted by Marty Bass on 2015-01-05 17:21:06

"mainstream"? hardly. only 5-10% of whites support reparations.

Posted by Austerity Sucks on 2015-01-05 01:43:53

You are the one arguing for 97 trillion, so the onus is upon you to support your figure. You haven't done that. My point is simple. The current net worth of the US is approximately 110 trillion. 97 trillion is roughly 88% of that. The assumption that 88% of the net worth of the US is due to unpaid Black labor is just not credible. Realistically it is probably no more than 1% (if that). More than that has already been paid in the form of welfare, affirmative action, etc. On balance it has done more harm than good to its supposed beneficiaries. Why do you want another failed program?

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-04 22:57:33

I actually do quite a bit of work, 40 hours per week (and that's just my job). Your numbers still don't add up.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-04 22:40:33

Lots of luck getting any reparations. About the best you can hope for is that the majority doesn't demand that you pay for the cleanup and destroyed property in Ferguson, Mo. You do have a job, don't you?

Posted by Bob Fritz on 2015-01-04 13:46:09

A-- just because I don't agree with you doesn't make me "angry". It seems to me that we've both been quite civil to each other. I will admit, as I already have, that I've been hearing about white racism, white privilege and the like since childhood, and my patience for it is wearing thin. While I recognize the ugly realities of American history, I also know that human history is one long, bloody story of people screwing other people over and the simple fact is that, for all our imperfections and warts, no country in history has a better record of trying to respect the rights of minorities than ours over the last 50 years.

B-- if your grandparents had imprisoned mine I'd blame them, not you. I'm Scots-Irish and married a girl who's English. When we were in Scotland years ago we actually got to visit a battlefield-- Culloden-- where her ancestors slaughtered mine. We could see a map that showed her family's English regiment directly across from my clan. Am I going to blame her for what her family did 300 years ago? That seems insane to me, honestly.

...and while I can see how you might resent me if my family HAD owned or mistreated yours, I can trace my American ancestors back to 1790's and they all lived in the North, there wasn't a slave-owner among them.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-04 02:33:43

I understand this is what you've been taught your entire life, just as I have. That doesn't make it so. The biggest single factor as far as having an advantage comes from an individual's family-- the way they are raised, the kind of resources they have, be it a person's family or their monetary holdings or whatever. You can't tell me that the black son of doctor or lawyer who has an intact family with both parents in the house is at a disadvantage to a white kid from a poor family, raised by a single parent-- and yet the first kid will have access to scholarships, grants, low-interest loans, etc, that the second kid doesn't have access to.

Statistically, someone who stays in school and graduates high school, avoids addiction and refrains from having children early and out of wedlock has very little chance of remaining poor-- and this is true regardless of race. The well-meaning liberals behind the "war on poverty" and the welfare state did what even slavery and Jim Crow could not-- turned a scandalous-at-the-time 20% black illegitemacy rate in 1963 into a 72% rate in 2014.

For my part, both my sets of grandparents were dirt-poor. My Dad joined the military and worked his @ss off his whole life to be able to give me a middle-class existence and was barely able to scrape together enough money to pay for one year of college. After that I was on my own. I'm in my 40's now, make a decent living and live in a nice house in a safe neighborhood. I've also been working my @ss off starting at age 14, I've been married to the same woman for 20 years and waited till I was 31 to have my first child-- because that's how long it took me to be able to afford it. Everything I have I EARNED, just like pretty much everyone I know-- and I gotta say, I'm getting a little tired of being told I'm the problem and had everything handed to me just because I'm white. I was raised to judge people as individuals, not by skin color-- and I've raised my own kids the same way. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same in return.

Unfortunately there's an entire political party as well as a number of people and organizations that stay in power by division, jealousy, racism and tales of evil white men. They were doing the exact same thing a hundred years ago, the only thing that's changed are demographics and liberal fashion. Such people love to pose as the "champions of the common man" and noble defenders of the oppressed but a pose is all it is. All they care about is power and their own self-image.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-04 02:07:58

thats old news, never have i said that we were the only people to endure slavery. clearly i have said on many occasions we were the only to endure the version of slavery that existed in the US, and for that length of time, also never did i say we didnt invent/start the practice, being the first civilizations we did most things first.

Of course you are right about anyone currently living, cause the last of them, died centuries ago.....wait sorry my mistake, i meant in the 40's

why do you keep fighting this, lets all acknowledge it, talk about it, come up with some agreed upon real solutions and move on.

i want you to just think, if my great grand parents had imprisoned you family tree for generations, i think you would be a little upset with me, and would prolly want some assisstance for the hell your life and your childrens lives would be. Just look at some of the family lines of people that have just been locked up for one lifetime, the most common result is a forever or at least for a looong while, tainted bloodline.

why are you so angry?

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-04 00:45:32

the whole framework is built for white people, i understand your story and i wasnt necessarily trying to dismiss anything, but what you are suggesting is preposterous, even with the supposed legs up, we still start off lower than you and have to work harder to climb.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-03 23:19:43

Reparations will happen, but not in the way you imagine;

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-03 21:30:39

This is not quite right: "All of your Ivy schools, they all agree with me." A number of Ivy League schools, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Brown, got quite a lot of money from the slave trade, but have not provided reparations. So any agreement they might have with the author is just theoretical.

Not that anyone currently living in the U.S. have ever lived as or owned slaves, anyway.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-03 15:13:06

Yes, they do pay. The innocent, respectable black "folks" pay though the nose for their victimization by the black criminal class. They pay by far the most in blood.And, no, white "folks" are responsible for crimes. But they commit a far smaller percentage of crimes in relation to their numbers than do black "folks"Why not face the problem of black "folks'" criminality and fix it instead of howling and whining for idiocies that will never happen like reparations?

Posted by busterthepug on 2015-01-03 15:11:08

That's neat how you feel totally comfortable dismissing my experiences as a "right-wing story that doesn't hold up" but, sorry, every word is true. Tell ya what, out of the thousands of formal, written-down policies that promote some people over others by race, go ahead and point to ONE designed to benefit white men.

Keep believing what you want to believe and casually dismissing everything that doesn't match your "racist Amerikkka" narrative-- that'll change the last 40 years of reality.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-03 15:04:45

the Hebrews in Egypt, after that what tragedy ces close in brutality combined with length of time.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-03 12:51:50

yes I've heard the story a thousand times, brotha I have lived the reality, they don't match up even a little bit. I have an iq of 134, and I got straight A's, I applied to every ivy league institution, got in zero, I attended private school and had several white friends who were not nearly as smart or got nearly the grades and now are Harvard grads. so cry me a river.

You my friend are stuck in the obvious, racism abounds in the US, did you see exodus, when was the last time you were pulled over for being in a nice car at night( once this yeat, and not even gonna start o. last year, how many times ha e you been passed o ER for the same promotion Nd watched as your young white counterparts pass you by, idk what bank you go to but loans aRe you serious? had an American express card missed one payment by two days, card was revoked, my European counterparts could not make a payment in what seems like ever.....

you my friend sound like a right wing story, that sounds awful but doesn't hold up.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-03 12:09:27

great proof, your word, try again.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-03 11:37:45

Exactly. Toles5 seems to be living in a dream world. Encouraging a race war is in no one's interest, and the chance of one happening is small at most.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-03 10:33:13

Math is a challenging subject, and your numbers don't add up. Try doing some math yourself before you lecture others on it.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-03 10:30:43

Because…you know...black folks' taxes never go toward paying for policing or futile welfare programs and white folks are never responsible for crime.

Posted by leftover on 2015-01-03 09:57:10

Some things that would benefit all of us (black people included): a tighter labor market, a solution to growing income concentration by the extremely wealthy, curtailment of the power of corporations, affordable housing and healthcare, affordable access to higher education and retraining throughout life, and more employee-owned companies. I think opening up wealth generation in the here and now would be more productive and more quickly beneficial than backward-looking reparations. For over a decade now, almost all the increases in productivity have been scarfed up by the already rich. Salaries have been stagnant.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-03 05:20:00

What are you basing the claim for reparations on, exactly? Willingness or man/hours of labor? Lots of people got stiffed throughout history, to varying degrees.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-03 05:11:44

Do you think the British government will pay reparations to me to compensate me for the hundreds of years of oppression culminating in the Irish Potato Famine that forced my ancestors , poor and starving to abandon their homeland? The waspy Americans of the day didn't treat my ancestors well either. Maybe the US government should pay me too?

Posted by lora120 on 2015-01-03 02:49:17

Okay genius, I'll bite. Where am I defending racism? I mean real racism, for which I have no sympathy at all, not the made up racism of liberal imagination in which false charges are routinely leveled against anyone with whom they disagree. False charges of racism don't even annoy me that much anymore, they are merely the most visible example of the dishonest debating tactics routinely used by left wingers in an attempt to silence their opponents.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 23:23:37

No, but we should be able to deny any select group of Americans the right to rip off the rest of us with some bogus giveaway program, whatever you want to call it.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 22:58:07

Extremely few people have enough money to just hand $500,000 to a niece or nephew for them to go work on some project or "find themselves" as they used to say. You would have to literally be in the upper part of the 1% to even be able to think of doing that. That Coates could even suggest something like that as being typical for a white family implies either a severe disconnect from the reality of how most people live or conscious dishonesty. I'm not sure which is worse.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 22:55:06

Ok then.. Reparations. Nix, That is, unless you want to pay them to every "aggrieved" party there is, all the way to the start of western civilization. Micro aggression? A new liberal buzz word to try to club the masses into liberal compliance.. Frankly they can call me a racist all day long.. It's just a word they use as a whip, and it's losing it's effectiveness from overuse..

Posted by Hollif50 on 2015-01-02 16:52:47

The person I was addressing is a liberal fascist accusing anyone opposing the "reparations" movement of being racist. For a white person to use "half-baked, uncivilized, gutter language like ebonics" is precisely the sort of act that such morons decry as "microagression" demonstrating the "racism" of the speaker. I was attempting to point out to this person that her own use of "mo-fo" contravened the very principles of her inane liberal worldview. Thus, the post was intended as irony.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-02 16:04:56

Irony: Incongruity (The quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate) between what might be expected and what actually occurs. There you go. But I still to see how making fun of half-baked, uncivilized, gutter language like ebonics is racist, "mo fo"...

Posted by Hollif50 on 2015-01-02 15:55:16

So much projection, so much laughable tough-guy "I'm a WARRIOR!!" bluster, so much hate.

I've delivered perhaps a tenth the bile, insults and mindless hate that you've spewed here today, hypocrite. I'm not the one fantasizing about how much I can't wait to beat anyone up, like you are-- all because I'm butt-hurt that not everybody grovels and waves pompoms for the political hacks I idolize (not that I idolize any in the first place). It seems as if the guy who's "unloved" and luckless with women is YOU. As I said, I'd never dream of attacking a person simply because they disagree with me, the way you keep fantasizing about.

Personally, I'd never think to make such sweeping assessments (never mind actual accusations) about a complete stranger-- simply because they disagree with me politically, but then I'm not a frothing, spittle-spewing, hate-filled zealot.

Do you ever read your own posts? You sound like a lunatic.

Honestly, seek help.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 14:36:16

Look who's calling the kettle black (you'll probably call that "racist", but I don't care what a stupid person has to say). YOU are who Gruber was talking about. BE GONE, sheep!!!!!!!

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 14:32:49

what happened to the any time - any place boldness you wrote of earlier?

got it.

all mouth.

as expected.

too bad, for a moment i had hope youd be as dumb as your own words and meet me.

but you sexist bully boys are all the same.

cowards.

you are lucky though, im no pajama boy - hell i never even voted for obama - im a labor leftist, dc warrior who worked his way through college as a lineman and id have smashed you into the ground.

but no matter, youre a perverted loser and you will remain a unloved failure and no, its not going to get any better.

but just remember, youve earned your life.

women will always end up finding out about the secret you and you will always end up alone.

you deserve it.

now we are done.

get lost loser.

you are dismissed.

and when hillary wins in a walk - think of me - because ill be right there with her - just like before :)

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 14:18:07

I travel frequently. Name a time and place.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 14:13:33

That's ok, I forgive you.

Have a nice day!

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 14:11:50

Yes, I can see how emotional, frothy and worked-up you're becoming from all the threats of violence you keep making.

Very evolved.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 14:10:47

Uhuh-- didn't think so.

For the last time, I don't want to join your boy-band and I'm certainly not going to share my personal info with a deranged-sounding lib tough-guy making threats from behind his little keyboard.

I'm a peaceful person and I don't make threats simply because people disagree with me politically. If you really, really feel the need to prove what a tough-guy you are, name a time and place-- I won't lay a hand on you, although I do reserve the right to defend myself if attacked by any violent lefty-loons.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 14:07:01

im ready any time bully boy.

are you near dc?

back up your words you perv.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 14:06:32

i dont respond to fukhead perverts like you with kisses and poetry you moron.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 14:05:25

no dumbaszz, i simply despise scum like you.

i ONLY go after those who attack with sexist taunting against a woman i know very well and respect to the hilt.

I have never and would never attack ANY woman with that kind of sexist and perverted taunting.

but to loser freaks like you - its a HOBBY!

yes, youre perverted and you are filth.

who the f raised you to be like that?

you deserve a thrashing for writing to and about women in that way and id so love to give it to you.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 14:04:18

"Fukhead", eh? Mighty cerebral.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:59:07

Uhuh, neato.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:57:53

Yawn. You mean as opposed to all the love and enlightenment you're here to provide?

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:57:01

i enjoy making you froth.

you came to me bubbie - come on my puppet - you dont think im gonna let you weasle out so easily do you?

i still havent heard back from you about where you live.

im so ready to call your bluff bully boy - lets get off of politico and tangle in real life.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:56:13

HAHAHA-- after all your name-calling and tough-guy threats and you have the gall to call ME a "bully"?

You should really seek professional help for your anger and Mommy issues, gobbler.

Gosh, a beating from an effete, Hillary-worshiping pajama-boy-- what a scary prospect.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:55:29

my lil puppet - dance, dance, dance!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:53:40

forgetting you told me to go "eat her gash" as you so poetically wrote it.

youre a total loser and a damaged and deranged fukhead.

you should be locked up in a mental hospital or some place but instead you come online to troll at politico.

You've responded with predictable insults and childishness to literally every one of my posts. Don't look now but you seem to be the one dancing.

Let's see if you can resist-- I dare you NOT to respond to this post. Can you manage it?

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:51:35

sorry nutter, i have zero interest in your sex life or the sex lives of any gop candidate.

thats all on you - you sick perverted loser.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:49:51

Brilliant comeback, gobbler.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:48:38

no one forced you to go pervy nutter.

i sure as helllll never do.

but its in your nature.

youre a deformed, malicious, sexist, resentful little toad.

youre as screwed up as a human can be and thats why you are here today, spreading your filth and your rage and your sick, sick misogynistic and pervy hate.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:48:08

More pervy projection from the hypocrite.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:47:36

I don't see anything "pervy" about calling out a Hillary-worshiping gobbler like you but whatever floats your boat, peaches.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:45:56

Whining about "put-downs"-- what a hypocrite.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:44:05

You're so boring-- endless expletives and insults, inevitably followed by mock-outrage and accusations of "PERV!!!" and "SEXIST!!!" when someone responds in kind.

Your boyfriend is going to get jealous with all the Hillary rug-munching you do.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:41:56

can you get here or do you live in, as expected, hicksville usa ?

if so - i will give you my secret/side email.

id luv to pound a bully boy like you.

lots of privacy at my place and no worries, i wont damage you, just hurt ya a bit and make you cry.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:41:44

you are turning into my latest puppet.

dance for me puppet - dance!

i command ye!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:39:05

Yea, I heard you the first 30 or 40 times, gobbler.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:36:05

Sure ya do. Name a time & place, tough-guy.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:35:19

The quote speaks for itself-- "context" doesn't change a thing.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:34:02

That nonsense about America's slavery being worse than, say, the holocaust or the rape of Nanking or any of a thousand other historical atrocities is nothing but leftist brainwashing-- and any TRUE historian would know this.

...and, it's a giant load that whites have an automatic "step up". At one time, sure, but for the last 50 years it's been widespread affirmative action/diversity policies and one-sided racial quotas and set-asides as far as the eye can see. I needed higher test scores to get into college because of my race, I was LAUGHED AT when I tried to get a low-interest college loan-- because I was white. I worked for $3.35 an hour while my black and Latino friends made $15 working for the city-- when I asked a friend to put in a good word for me, he said he'd be happy to but that "they don't hire white guys". I've literally lost count how many times I've seen minorities and women with far less experience than their white male competitors get promotions-- all because of skin-color and sex. I've seen it in the workplace for 30 years, over and over and over again.

...and now you're gonna lecture me about my "privilege"?

Spare me. It's not 1963, it's 2015 and the only "institutional racism" that's left is directed at straight, white men-- just as it's been for decades.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 13:22:51

lord jebus jethro, you are suchhhh a MORON!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:18:28

you wanna come see me big boy - no problemo.

23 miles from dc - at the top of the severn river.

any time tough guy.

i actually LOVE to fight. :)

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:16:22

did you rub your thighs while typing that you loser/nutter?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:13:43

youre a perv.

do you deny this?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:05:01

so no pervy putdown this time stalker?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 13:04:01

So what does that prove ? You could make the same statement about Latinos, Asians, and Indians as you did about whites. Why is that.

Really? Blather about "insight" and "self-awareness" after countless thousands times posting the exact same adolescent obscenities and and pompom-waving, word-for-word, over and over.

Go gobble Shrill's old clamshell some more.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:50:09

im a busy man.

trolls like you get mostly re-runs.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:47:42

Fourth time and counting. Tell your masters to program some new material for you. How f$&@ing monotonous.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:46:50

unaware and arrogant hypocrite.

let me guess.

you ARE john galt!

roflmfao!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:46:37

...and that's the third time you've written that in the last 2 hours. Are you a bot?

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:45:24

And yet again, I believe you and never doubted the sincerity of your mindless hate.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:44:03

deep insightful comeback.

i gave you the numbers and reality of what happened in 08 and you come back with personal insults while complaining about personal insults from moi.

whaaa!

ironic.

youre as self aware as you are politically knowledgeable and intelligent .

aka, not so much....

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:43:03

Uhuh-- same drill-- endless childishness, then the "stalker" routine, then you start calling people "perv" and the like. Fascinating stuff, drone.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:42:05

Yea, you mentioned that about 5 minutes ago.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:39:45

I've been avoiding commenting on your endless, mindless lib blather for months. Some dem-drones are so repetitive and obnoxious it's hard to keep up the discipline required not to respond.

Not that you'd understand discipline, since you're unable to post a single comment without your endless "Jethro!!"s and "MORON!!"s.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:38:28

let me try again.

heres the problem with nutters like you.

the average IQ is 100 and half the people are dumber than that.

that you in a nutshell bubba.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:35:49

heres the problem with nutters like you.

the average IQ is 100 and half the people are dumber than that.

that you in a nutshell bubba.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:35:05

let me try again.

being completely sincere. if i was him, id off myself. no bullshite.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:34:02

oh look.

got myself a stalker!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 12:33:01

Spare me, all you know is how to bow, scrape, wave pompoms and spew adolescent bile.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:32:37

Just like a trained parrot-- a few childish insults and obscene angry-words repeated over and over.

So boring.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:31:01

As I said, typical hate-filled prog-toddler. The ssincerity of your mindless hate is unquestionable.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:28:22

Uhuh, "STOOOPID", "nutter", "bubba"-- fascinating, as always, drone.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 12:26:03

It's not mainstream. But you go ahead and keep saying it is.

Posted by Philo Vaihinger on 2015-01-02 11:38:01

No, because white people in this country have been benefiting from the underpaid and outright stolen labor of Black folks for the past 150 years since slavery ended. Love how you conveniently skipped over Jim Crow, residential segregation, job discrimination, and the prison industry.

Posted by parkwood1920 on 2015-01-02 11:33:21

I beg to differ. The peculiar institution, Slavery,has been around for thousands of years all across the world. The USA wasone of the first to abolish the practice. Thanks to the Hundreds of thousandsof Union soldiers fighting and dying against the states allowing slavery whichwere controlled by the Whig and Democratic Party. (Great read on History ofslavery Wikipedia) and this line "In 1854, angry with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, anti-slavery Democrats left the party and joinedNorthern Whigs to form the Republican Party.[16][17]"

Slavery is still being practiced though illegal world-wide.Though most people don’t care to discuss it to those personally involved as Ihave to believe you are from your line, “They are one of the lucky ones who fought through this immense human rights tragedy and still found away to be successful despite the psychological trauma( me and it wasn't easy).perfect, no one to blame and nowhere to go.......”

I was lucky to get some treatment at the VA for my own PTSD so I respect your ardent opinion, but believe that personal responsibility, being true to one’s core tenets, and knowing God has given all of us the tools to solve our problems. Keep using your free speech rights, but understand, I would bet the majority of voters in the USA think reparations are another form of special entitlement to divide the classes and parties of the US. I think there are a lot of democrats wanting to leave but still think the Tea Party is/are racist. Let’s follow the entire constitution as amended and respect the 16th Amendment and evaluate if we can re-make the parties again. Freedom and Personal rights vice Big Government Nanny states picking and choosing who has special rights and who does not.

Posted by Don Obie on 2015-01-02 11:31:33

Yeah---someone who has no understanding of Black history nor US economy taking a Booker T. Washington quote out of context. How intelligent.

Posted by parkwood1920 on 2015-01-02 11:30:23

heres the problem with nutters like you.

the average IQ is 100 and half the people are dumber than that.

that you in a nutshell bubba.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:42:48

i ll take your words under advisement. :)

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:42:10

am i getting a groupie?

how many love notes now?

10? or is it 12?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:39:24

less than half this lead and this time there is no one who can race bait her and get 98% of the black vote against her.

you people really dont know squat about politics.

totally clueless.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:38:37

whaaaa!

139, bubba.

et tu?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:37:13

heres the problem with nutters like you.

the average IQ is 100 and half the people are dumber than that.

that you in a nutshell bubba.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:36:38

being completely sincere.

if i was him, id off myself. no bullshite.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:36:22

Hillarey simply destroys Paul in all polling.

I prasy hes the GOP nominee so that not will it be an easy win, but we will take his senate seat from him too.

heres the problem with nutters like you.

the average IQ is 100 and half the people are dumber than that.

that you in a nutshell bubba.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:35:43

lets seperate plain old racism from how the politicians, especially obama, use racism.

i never voted for obama because i saw how he and his campaigbn used false charges of racism against the clintons and their supporters (and any opponent since)

but then theres just plain old racism like you are defending here.

diofferent stuff.

that kind of racism is real.

and real stupid too.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-02 10:34:21

Whatever you think my "political persuasion" is, I can assure you, it is much, much worse than you expect! That said, ad hominem is a waste of time and a hobby I grew out of on grammar school. The point: The industrial revolution failed to materialize in the southern states because the plantation system provided a viable (though not equal) alternative to the "smokestack economy". Thus, the presence of black slaves in this part of the country actually resulted in economic stagnation in this region. Therefore, "black labor" actually DECREASED the net worth of the country as a whole. Thi refutes Coates' thesis.

Posted by AgrarianBarbarian on 2015-01-02 10:27:02

Please follow the entire thread and look up the word "irony."

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-02 10:17:36

If we can 'never repay' the debt, then why try to do so? Doesn't this imply that reparations, once started, will never stop?

Posted by Diws on 2015-01-02 10:06:20

this was the perfect crime, first let's make it generational so my children's children can profit, yet they cannot be blamed, and they are trapped, they can't go back, they are no longer African and they have no choice but to stay here and hope that they are one of the lucky ones who fought through this immense human rights tragedy and still found a way to be successful despite the psychological trauma( me and it wasn't easy). perfect, no one to blame and nowhere to go.......it's simple just have the conversation and be ready to take real action, and not just deal with the symptoms

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 09:55:09

If ancestral guilt can be applied, then so too should ancestral credit. Some of my own ancestors did own slaves (for which I emphatically make no apology, by the way). And yet some of my ancestors helped build this country through settling, finance, and their own hard work. And of course whites sort of built Western Civilization (on classical foundations). So I calculate that the descendants of slaves actually owe me money, on the balance.

Posted by Diws on 2015-01-02 09:49:01

but , and I know the natural distrust some have for academia, but consult some economics professors or people in high finance i. the business world, and they will tell you the same. I'm impressed though because you have t started name calling yet, by this point in many discussions with people of your political persuasion, they have a a do Ed facts and just started being derogatory, bravo.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 09:47:59

no not really just that the south made a few poor decisions, does not at all detract from the incalculable service that was done for this country by slaves, it's ok, I know it's hard to accept that this great country of ours owes a debt it can never repay to the people's le that they have treated the worst. you'll be ok

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 09:43:40

The industrial revolution was deliberately rejected by the south in favor of the neo-feudalism of the plantation system. Thus, my point stands.

Posted by AgrarianBarbarian on 2015-01-02 09:21:57

EXACTLY!!!!

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:22:58

this is exactly why things will never change, ok, im gonna leave it alone Mr real action before i get like you and become irritated

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:22:00

try doing a little math

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:18:49

woooooow ok, economics proefessor, the only reason the north out competed the south was because of the industrial revolution, period.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:18:08

nice diversionary tactic

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:15:05

wow do a little work will you.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:14:21

i most assuedly am not being a victim, I have a very successful life, I just left a lot of my friends, who are definitely worthy of the help. no other group of americans had to deal with the one of the greatest human atrocities of all time.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:13:38

do me a favor and do some real study of the value of the 350 yeas of free labor.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:10:50

and im fine with that, just stop complaining about having to deal with the consequences of not dealing with the obvious problem that was created in this country a long time ago and just ended 150 years ago.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:09:21

ITS NOT THE SAME, NO OTHER BODY OF PEOPLE WERE BROUGHT HERE AGAINST THEIR WILL. maybe some individuals but even then thee was a certain level of choice given.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 08:06:59

Yes. The scenario they describe as typical for whites is so woefully inaccurate. Myself, and most of my friends learned to go without while growing up and the ones who have anything now worked their tails off for it and achieved greater status on their own merits. I never received a handout in my life, whether from government or anyone else and I've never felt entitled to the fruits of another man's labor. Asking for reparations from people who had nothing to do with the enslavement of their ancestors is asking for the de facto enslavement of innocent men and women today. I have ancestors who were former slaves. I have ancestors displaced by British aggression against Franco-Canadian populations. Ancestors who fled the genocide in Nazi occupied Europe. Do I believe I am owed reparations for the past sins of long dead evil men? I just don't know what to say to any person who believes these reparations will help anything. I would sooner give up my right to live than allow anyone to steal from me so that a victim class can feel better about past wrongs that they themselves have never experienced.

Posted by Mike on 2015-01-02 08:00:59

I said it would have to a condition of giving them that money. If they want the money they would have to relinquish all rights to live here along with their descendants. They would relinquish their right to be an American citizen in exchange for the money.

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-02 07:16:03

Are they gonna use that money to repair the damage they did in the 1950's and 1960's and even later to with their temper tantrums/riots? They are such lousy financial experts that they will have wasted all the money on booze, drugs and ho's and bling.

Posted by Mark Lindsey on 2015-01-02 06:29:36

So, what about applying that same calculation to all the other groups who worked to build America? It's not like everybody else was sitting on their butts.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-02 06:28:39

There is an answer that can be found if one is able to concede that there is such a thing as good and evil...recognition is the beginning of all wisdom I understand.

Posted by ReluctorDominatus on 2015-01-02 06:16:53

I also have no inheritance, no chunks of financial help as described, nada. That's most whites, especially now, after the Great Recession. I think it's extremely irresponsible to portray all or most whites as being financially well off.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-02 04:17:15

There are not enough black people to take over America or even to run a widespread race war. They are what, about 16-18% of the population? Enough to cause trouble in a few specific locales, not enough to unseat subjugate, and/or destroy whites. That's not a sensible plan B for frustrated black people. So, they don't have money, the career they think they should, or the home they want? Neither do most of us, especially after the Great Recession.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-02 04:14:05

Real action has been done. People need to earn their lives, not just cry about it.

Posted by Irritated on 2015-01-02 02:22:05

Go back to Africa then. We'll pay for the boat ride. Doubt people take the offer since there are many upon many programs which are defacto reparations. Instead, people only choose to accept handouts rather than repair and improve themselves for their families and future generations just like all other ethnic groups have done. Seems to be only one group of Americans have an issue. It's about being a victim. Stop being a victim and put your boots on and work like every other group of Americans and improve yourselves.

Posted by Irritated on 2015-01-02 02:20:52

Then what? A race war? You realize that would be disastrous for everyone, especially blacks, but others too. It would be foolish to start one (and no, I really don't think one is going to happen). If you want a good idea of what happens in inter-ethnic conflict when it happens, try reading "War of the World" by Niall Ferguson. It isn't pretty, with families of mixed ethnicity killing other family members.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 02:06:39

Once again, where do you the absurd 97 trillion from? And don't tell me this country was built on the backs of slaves. That is part, but far from all of the story. It was built by millions of people of different groups and ethnicities.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:53:26

btw it wasnt the jews, it was the hebrew people, who guess what.....were black!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:50:35

Finally someone actually responds to the only tragedy that even merits discussion in comparison to slavery(or did you read some of my other posts and cherry pick from there, you sneaky devil lol) and look what it took to get them out and back on their feet direct divine intervention, on top of that they completely left en masse, that little fact makes a huge difference, imagine had they had to stay in egypt, i would bet my paycheck you would have seen striking similarities to them and american black folks of today. An insane pschologically damged people making poor life choices, who would have ever guessed, BUT i will happily(well not so happily) that we are amogst out own worst enemies, with emphasis on amongst. voting for mid 70's and forward repubs, would have set us back far more than the Dem's supposedly did.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:49:03

And there is always an addition or subtraction difference between those those being forced to give and those on the take.

Posted by squirefld on 2015-01-02 01:45:33

Actually, no. Black labor did NOT "build America" and it was anything by "free". In fact, it actually cost LESS to simply hire seasonal labor than to feed, house and clothe slaves. This is one of the many reasons the north out-competed the south economically.Further, the slave system was based on the production of only two resources, tobacco and cotton, produced a "hollowed out" economy, similar to modern-day gulf states. Thus, "free" black labor built nothing more than the fortunes of a few wealthy families. The great cities of the north? Nope. After that, your primary contribution was violent crime and lewd dances. Better be careful - these Sharptonian antics are causing some whites to develop a racial consciousness...just read this comment section...and if a critical mass of them do so, they'll do more than "go down swinging". You might even have to pull your weight for the first time in 150 years.

Posted by AgrarianBarbarian on 2015-01-02 01:43:54

The term "racist" has been over used and abused so much that it is becoming meaningless. Racism should mean hatred, dislike, or disdain for those of another race. But when opposition to affirmative action, or to a large welfare state, or to President Obama because of political differences, or to virtually any aspect of the progressive project is called racism the term has clearly lost all meaning.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:41:57

and that is fine and completely within your right, but when I say until that issue is properly addressed then all of the other sympromatic problems will keep on occuring, and i know its not gonna happen so i have resigned myself to this reality and try to share a saner point of view when i can, realizing im dealing with a terribly emotionally scarred people, that i cant truly expect sane reactions from nor should you. So we agree that nobody is gonna do anything nor make any move towards each other and hope for the bestgood luck

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:39:18

math is always a challenging subject.........

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:31:35

i hope its that mild

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:30:24

the elephant in the room that you all want to gloss over because thats how you did it in history class, is the "peculiar institution", none of those people you named can make that claim, only one people can and thats the hebrews in Egypt.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:29:02

In the medical field we do things called randomized controlled trials to figure out what works best for treating patients. In the history of African slavery we have something that approximates a randomized controlled trial. A number of Africans were somewhat randomly brought to the US as slaves and the rest remained in Africa. This basically gives us a randomized controlled trial of the outcomes of the descendants of those who were enslaved vs those who remained in Africa. So it is probably best to see if the descendants of slaves in the US have better incomes, lifestyles, etc than the descendants of people who remained in Africa. If the descendants of slaves in the US have worse outcomes, then reparations may be appropriate.

So the best test to see if reparations are appropriate would be to compare incomes, poverty levels, education levels, lifestyles, etc. of African Americans vs Africans. If Africans are better off then reparations may be appropriate, because that would indicate that the US is a bad place for people of African descent. If African Americans are better off than Africans, then the US is probably a better place than Africa for people of African descent.

Posted by I like data on 2015-01-02 01:29:00

umm not quite sure which detainees you are talking about, but if you are talking us troops, it was a war, that makes a difference, if you are talking about people we detained, if we did it for 350 years I would be saying we need to have a conversation. You guys are funny not one time have i said anything about reparations, if anything i have said due to the immensity of the amount and when it happened(too long ago is a relative statment, slavery happened for a longer time periond than the time period since when it ended) reparations is probably not the answer, but again you dont read, and please kind sir I will stop talking when I am wrong.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:24:58

"Speaking of history, how do you feel about reparations for Native Americans?

When you kill a massive amount of people and you push them off their land and then build a society on top of that, you probably owe them something."That is something that's been practiced by virtually every ethnic group and nation on earth. The people that were killed are dead, but, so are the people (for the most part, there are still some old Nazis and a lot of communists left who have blood on their hands) are dead. At some point history is history and there is no practical way to untangle it, especially since most of those living now likely have ancestors from both the perpetrators and the victims. The statement goes to show how clueless this article really is.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:24:30

One can make the argumentthat blaming others or looking for another to pay for reparations is the maincause of lack of black self-reliance and responsibility that allows more recentand equally mistreated but more focused groups to succeed, Vietnamese, Chinese,Koreans, Middle Eastern Jews, Farsi, and Palestinians, and Indians of Asiaand the Americas.

Posted by Don Obie on 2015-01-02 01:23:56

Like what? Abortion on demand? That's killed more people than all our wars combined. That's pretty bad in my book.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:17:50

calculat this the value of a 1,000 peoples hard labor most everyday for a year, now when you do this factor in no 1 hour lunchbreak, 15 min breaks thoughout the day and working sunup to sundown. tell me what you come up with.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:14:44

OK. I give up. I don't have the slighest idea what you mean. But lets start here. Michigan just passed a law that welfare receipents are going to be drug tested, for any substance abuse, to receive benefits. Lets go nation wide with that. That may effect food stamps or substidied housing or education grants. Free cell phones and monthly minutes, gone. But let me assure you, there is no 95 trillion left to go. I don't know how your going to hold on to what you take from others.

"Coates is a repetitive, not very interesting pundit who zealously removes comments that don't agree with him from his blog." I've noticed that when reading his articles. I don't think I've ever seen a post on one of them that fundamentally disagrees with his column. It's a weird experience, like he wants an online cheering section and not any real debate.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:10:49

QUIT CALLING HER HILLARY!!!! It gives her cred she doesn't deserve, and that's what her base calls her. Also, makes her sound folksy and accessible; she is NEITHER.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 01:10:00

exactly, somethin is gonna happen eventually good or bad, i just hope we(americans)have enough sense to act before the bad happens

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:08:20

Nope.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 01:07:58

Not true, she also needs to be black, and preferably named Obama. She will not inhereit hos base.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 01:07:46

Don't forget Paul. He'll smoke her butt. She's just a female Oblowme. Even the sheeple have figured that out.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 01:05:29

Agreed. I suspect the "conversation" Holder wanted to have was whites being lectured by progressives on "white skin privilege".

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:03:00

Of course, text lingo falls in the same category, don't u (you) think?

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 01:02:23

Still absurd, and not payable. Actually, the whole idea of "reparations" for slavery is a bad joke. It's not going to happen.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 01:00:33

50,000 per would put you a little over 1 trilion, that still leaves you about 96 trill short, ok you wanna say you have already spent 3 trillion, ok so now you are only 94 T short, you cant pay us back, and even then it would change the ideas, mindsets and stories, of the nation, that is the problem moreso than the money.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 01:00:16

No, YOU don't get it. IT WAS A LONG TIME AGO, and we have been working on turning it around, rather successfully, except for the efforts of Obama, Holder, Sharpton, et al who want to cheapen the strides we have made. This "reparations" crap is part and parcel with those vile efforts.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 00:59:49

Where do you get such an absurd figure from? Since the is close to the net worth of the entire US, clearly blacks, or slaves, nor any other ethnic group contributed that much by themselves.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 00:58:50

lol!

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-02 00:54:38

All of this is TOO LONG AGO to matter. I don't hear you demanding a discussion about reparations for WWII detainees, many of whom are STILL ALIVE. So, SHUT UP!!!!!

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 00:53:35

ok fine then the problem doesnt go away

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 00:52:33

btw is that sarah pailns body they photoshopped her head onto................sorry just couldnt help it

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 00:51:54

No, it doesn't. It's a stupid argument.

Posted by MisterEd13 on 2015-01-02 00:50:57

dont you get it, they made a choice, a very difficult choice but a choice nonetheless, im certain that if given the choice between possibly starving and packing in a boat they might die on for the opportunity to be slaves in US slavery, most africans would have stayed. And america doesnt become the same country, it has become, 97 trillion free dollars will do that for you. Ill even argue that is an extremely salient fact as to why we became the country we became. btw i neve said calculate how much you owe me, i just said calculate how much the value of just 100,000 individuals years worth of work is worth.

pnly since you want to complain about how much im trying to say you owe me anything, which i never have said, i will give you what you are asking for, everybody in this country owes a huge debt to black folks foe their 350 years worth of FREE hard labor. Imagine you are a company just starting out and i tell you that for the next 350 years all of your manual labor is free, most business men I know will tell you they will create an invincible company that is hailed as the greatest company in a generation. my guess is your people came to this country seeking a land of opportunity and a better future for their family, why here, why the US, well we were and are the greastest country on earth built in a significant part on the backs of 350 years of FREE labor.

its ok, i understand, its perfectly understandable you go down swinging with this belief system, your whole world is built up on a certain set of facts being true. its ok

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 00:48:05

Typical hate-filled prog-toddler.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:45:42

You may not be technically female but no "man" waves pompoms for Shrill and spews repetitive, brain-dead bile like you do.

You're a toddler who missed their nap, throwing a tantrum and waiting for Mom to clean you up and make things all better.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:43:03

Just like your constant adolescent name-calling-- "moron", "azzhole", "racist mutherfuker"-- it sounds more impressive every time you repeat the same exact thing over and over and over.

No, really, it does-- and makes you sound REALLY smart.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:37:09

Ooh- "the polls say" she's a shoe-in. Why even hold the election?

...and what did the polls say about Shrill back in 2006?

Oopsie.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:31:54

As articulate as any toddler throwing a tantrum and yelling childish obscenities. Gosh-- what a display of intellect. "Ready" is the perfect democratic voter.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:28:56

97 trillion

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 00:25:56

Not sure about the "against his will" part...does "avoiding starvation" count? As far as the crossing itself, the famine Irish suffered and died in steerage as well. The only difference is, we are not still griping about it and using it as an excuse for our modern social pathologies.The facts are: 1) None of my ancestors owned slaves or profited in any way from slavery.2) My ancestors' first act on American soil was to shed our blood for the freedom of enslaved blacks.3) My ancestors had an organization (the Know-Nothings) that was ten times the size of the Klan dedicated to keeping them out and down .4) My ancestors did not benefit from the last hundred years of college funds, affirmative action programs and other giveaways...although they DID finance them, and "against their will" as the taxes.So...I calculate that I "owe" you exactly nothing. Up until about a generation ago, my ancestors were dedicated union Democrats. Now, we're all Republicans, thanks to this sort of BS. You won't be extracting one more dime from my hard work without a fight.

Posted by AgrarianBarbarian on 2015-01-02 00:25:35

very few things in history rival the atrocity that was slavery and if you cant see that you are a poor history student. slavery was very different in SA than it was here(i keep telling you that they called american slavery, in the US, the peculiar institution for a reason.). what i will give you is that US slavery produced some of the strongest most capable and adaptable humans on the planet, while at the same time creating a psychologically scarred people whose scars match the immensity and depth of our tragedy. We have never had the conversation, there is a bill in the house right now not askin for reparations but to scientifically and psychologically look at the effects long term and genrationally of slavery, never been done before in the 150 years since this greatest of human atrocities.

Yes that works perfectly lets have a completely equal playing field where you start with 2 steps up automatically, dont you get it there is no way to truly level the playing field, its unfortunate but that is the truth, all we can do is continue to struggle through and try as much as we can to make it as fair as we can. But that is just my response and the response that i share with others, but i totally understand the other responses, note that doesnt say condone(even though somebody's response is going to accuse me of condoning), just i understand.

this is not going away, much as we try to ignore it, and one thing i believe we agree on is there is no way you can pay us back the 95 trillion, but something has to happen and if it would at all help, I would be willing to sit down at the table and discuss it.

the only thing that even angers me in the slightest is when people try to empathize by comparison, you were subjugated and oppressed..............really people all over the world are sujugated and oppressed, do you understand the difference between subjugation/oppression and chattel slavery in the USA and the length of time.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-02 00:25:31

"Mo fo's"-- ooh, how "street".

Hilarity.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:25:18

Just like always-- forever bowing, scraping and waving pompoms for your idol, in between name-calling like an unruly toddler.

It's so easy to spot the "smart, evolved, enlightened" people-- they're the ones constantly telling everyone else how "STOOOOPID and RAAAACIST" they are.

There's nothing on earth more predictable than prog-toddlers and their tantrums.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:21:16

Darn it! You deserve it Joe! That's what's been holding you down all these years!

Posted by bikerken on 2015-01-02 00:19:54

Kill yourself, you miserable sack of sh*t.

Posted by hourglass44 on 2015-01-02 00:13:59

Reparations have already been made in the form of reverse discrimination, and more positive stuff like people treating others as people, instead of black or white. This is news to you lefties who refuse to acknowledge the huge strides we have made in the last 50 years. Some, like Obama, Pelosi, Holder, Biden, and Sharpton pretend that these strides haven't been made, and are even causing significant retrenchments of them. Hollywood has decided that Selma wasn't bad enough, and to make it look even worse than it was in its upcoming film. I lived through the Civil Rights Era, grew up living with a racist mother, and I still knew better. We taught our children to treat people as individuals, not members of an ethnic group, and, as a result, we have a very diverse family. I am sick of people trying to wreck the progress our society has made. We need to move on.

BTW, if Japanese families, who were citizens and were rounded up, imprisoned, and their property taken (there were some Germans and Italians, too, including Joe DiMaggio's parents), just because of their ethnicity, during a time when we should have known better, don't deserve reparations, then NOBODY does. And I am sick of hearing about "slavery reparations". It only emboldens the victim mentality that is such a challenge for the black community.

You progs are the ones forever telling everyone how we need to keep having a "conversation on race"-- well, guess what? "Conversations" work both ways, as much as you'd like to be able to shut everyone who disagrees with you up by screaming "RAAAACIST!!" and simply lecturing ad-infinitum.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-02 00:09:16

ummmmmmm was he brought here against his will bound and pressed at the bottom of a boat where statistically 3 people died per trip? again ill wait but i aleady did the calculation for you.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 23:55:36

ok so you have another 95 trillion left to go.........

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 23:50:08

Since LBJ's War On Poverty we have give the black community "reparations" of over two trillion dollars. Most blacks made it into the middle class, but far to many squandered their chance. Now some are calling for MORE, No, No.

Posted by squirefld on 2015-01-01 23:42:27

OK. Calculate for me the value of my great-great grandfather, who came from Ireland in 1862 with his brother, was given a blue uniform and a rifle and got his foot shot off. His brother died. I'll be expecting a chunk of you reparation money to pay for their sacrifice for your freedom.

Posted by AgrarianBarbarian on 2015-01-01 23:10:01

whaaa!

racist just hate racism huh?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 22:49:25

Calling someone a racist is the 21st centuries Godwins Law.

Posted by MrGJG on 2015-01-01 22:45:24

2 wrongs dont make a Rev Wright.

Posted by joe barron on 2015-01-01 22:18:04

I suspect both sides have pretty warped ideas about each other. Not likely to get resolved either, since the "conversation" (per Atty. Gen. Holder) is really almost always one-sided.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 22:06:21

Racist? Why is that? Because you don't like it? Tough cr@p...

Posted by Hollif50 on 2015-01-01 22:04:05

Interesting slant. I think I somewhat agree?! I especially agree with moving on.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 22:03:33

Yep! In the 1960's only about 20% of illegitimate children were born to single females in the black community. Today that number is much closer to 80%. But African Americans have been a steady course of victimization since the advent of the "great society" in 1965 and have bought it hook, line and sinker. Couple that with the deteriorating black family and you have a society within a society that doesn't value education or traditional values at all. It is a very difficult problem, but one for which the larger society really can't do anything about. Every 40 or 50 years there will be attendant upheavals (riots, cop killings, growth in crime rates) then the dust will settle and everything will go back to the way it was. Until the cycle of poverty, non-education, and victimization is broken it will continue in perpetuity.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 22:00:05

A "different tone"? By whose accounting? I'm guessing the millions of people of all colors who lived as slaves over the course of the last 3,000 years would disagree. There were FAR more slaves in South America than North-- and yet nobody is talking about reparations or it being their "original sin" down there. Also, the population has exploded in the U.S. over the last century. The population in 1900 was 76 million people-- as opposed to over 320 million now, so more than 3/4ths of the current population came AFTER slavery had been abolished. By what logic are they responsible for slavery?

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-01 21:55:14

Reparations are due from B to A when B takes an action that makes A worse off. Are the black people living in America today worse off because of slavery? Do they wish that slavery had never occurred?

If it had not been for slavery, none of the black people that are currently demanding reparations for slavery and "the legacy of slavery" would exist. Also, America would have very, very few black people living in it.

You cannot validly claim reparations for something that made you better off. It's time for everyone living today to thank God that they are alive, to thank God that they are Americans, and to get on with their lives.

Posted by SMIA061948 on 2015-01-01 21:54:22

Your not pointing fingers??? "Europeans robbed the whole of Africa of its great story, and gave African Americans slavery as its story." OK. And what would you have us, those who have nothing in common with the "Europeans" who did this to your "people," do?? How much money would make it right in your mind?? Because I suspect that is really what this is about. Or do we just need to acknowledge our European(ness?) and some how embrace the non-fact that we had something to do with all those terrible things that you describe?? Although you play a little fast and loose with history when you omit the fact that it was black Africans that began the slave trade and that some still practice it today.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 21:49:28

Reparations? The Black families were intact until the 1960's. Now, 75 percent of Blacks are born outside of two parent families. Why the slippage? Big government put them on the Democratic party plantation and created dependency along with higher rates of crime. This crime bump has nothing to do with past slavery and not all Blacks are related to slaves anyway (like Obama). Additionally, many European immigrants came to the U.S. after slavery and had their own economic problems. What about whites whose ancestors fought against slavery? Are they liable too? Reparations is such a bogus proposition on so many levels that it is irrational.

Posted by Khanski on 2015-01-01 21:40:50

who is pointing the finger, again i say it is something that happened to my people by your people, and we will be forever affected by it as long as both black folks and white folks continue to act like the war(civil) ended and we can just move on. Quite simply the greatest atrocity committed by one people on another since bible times. Im not asking for anything but a way to heal. we can be no greater than our stories......Europeans robbed the whole of Africa of its great story, and the US gave african americans slavery as its story, what do you expect black folks to be but slaves.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 21:38:52

The people that died were not the ones who started it.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 21:36:02

again, Im just saying the conversation needs to be had and some real action needs to come from that conversation.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 21:28:50

the slavery that happened in the united states was of a different tone, thats where you get the term 'peculiar institution' and although not absolving the arabs and other africans of anything, what was done here was horrific on another scale. I never thought the US invented slavery as it clearly state in the bible that the hebrews were enslaved by the egyptians for 400 years as well.surely your joking when you say most of the black population came here after slavery was abolished. So you are saying that the majority of the 25 million or so black folks in this country arrived in the past 150 years, same thing for the white population.

Ill say it again, the conversation needs to be had, as long as we continue to ignore the source of the problem, black folks and consequently, the rest of the country will have problems. Never did i accuse you or anyone else to you of doing anything, I just know that somebody and im sure we can find out who beat my great grandma.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 21:26:21

Very true. What Ivy League schools and Black Nationalists consider important isn't going to be much of a concern for your average voter, much less your average disconnected citizen.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 21:11:52

That's got to be one of the most clueless lines in what is, by any objective standard, a clueless article. I grew up in an upper middle class family and I didn't get anything remotely close to that. Apparently Muwakkil and Coates have a very warped idea of how most whites live.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 21:00:51

Well, the Goths invaded Rome later, so I guess it worked both ways. However, since there is a high probability that some of my ancestors were Roman slaves, I certainly think I should get reparations!

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 20:56:19

Heaven forbid blacks do anything themselves.

Posted by Sanders on 2015-01-01 20:52:09

jjones2630, I'm not sure if you've noticed but Jim Crow has been gone for 50+ years. I agree it was certainly a great evil, but it does little to explain the current dire situation of inner city blacks. Now if we can identify living people, or even perhaps their children, who were, for instance, run off their property due to Jim Crow or some other form or racism I'm all for them getting compensation. But just to hand out dollars based on skin color (or whatever your preferred program is) will do little or nothing to solve any real problems. But race relations aren't going to be helped by constantly demanding freebies from the state. And yes, I'm just as opposed to more freebies for whites or anyone else. We have enough already.

If the trillions spent didn't do the job, and in many cases actually made things worse, what makes you think another massive government program spending trillions more is going to do any good?

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 20:38:12

Why would I want to impress a smelly fat lesbian?

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 20:34:23

You are correct. When family structure disappears, and fathers are largely absent from inner city culture, the children suffer. They will not learn the proper discipline necessary to success and they will get a warped idea of manhood that honors the values of a street gang rather than the virtues needed in life. Of course, this is due more to misguided government policies intended to "help" the poor rather than a supposed "legacy of slavery";

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 20:32:25

Right. That's why a Black man will never be elected President.

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 20:31:29

You're getting farther and farther afield. The issue is the current state of the Black community. You seem to feel the problems are bcz of slavery that ended 150 years ago or Jim Crow that ended more than 50 years ago. I think it's bcz Blacks have elected to be dependent upon government handouts and the Dem Party that promises "stuff" for votes, as well as widespread out-of-wedlock births (about 75% of all births) and criminality. Which is more "moral", being self-sufficient and paying taxes or being someone who refuses work as too hard, or beneath them, and takes the government dole (that the first guy pays for with his taxes)?

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 20:29:10

how much would we have to give in reparations to get you to leave the country and never come back?

Posted by dktrdktr on 2015-01-01 20:28:32

oh my, another nobody of a lawyer, one of 500,000, who thinks that means hes an educated person.

sorry nutter but i dont even waste caps on you nobodies.

so where did you go to college jethro?

impress me with what place you think is better than old light blue.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 20:21:28

And you can't punctuate. Law degree, indeed!!

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 20:12:28

whats with a youre a perverted, misogynistic nutcase freak like you calling others "perverts"?

its really quite bizarre.

you are seriously disturbed..

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 20:09:38

1)There were people, who fought with there lives keep Black folks enslaves. - Africans2)There were people who fought hard to get keep Black under Jim Crow laws. - Democrats.3)There are people now, who will fight hard not to give Black folks there righteous dues. - African American Democrats.

Posted by bikerken on 2015-01-01 20:08:17

Slavery, which is still being practiced today...in Africa....by Africans.

Posted by bikerken on 2015-01-01 20:05:29

Dignity and respect should be given to anyone. The bible say treat each other like you would treat yourself.That some good moral teaching.That statements you made are bad moral teaching.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 20:03:48

Lemme see, can I get reparations from Italy for when the Romans invaded the Goths?

Posted by bikerken on 2015-01-01 20:03:18

No one can deny A American citizens of his right to be here, money or not.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 19:57:14

The facts do not support what you are saying.You are imagining things that are not true Facts show whites get lot of more opportunity and made lot more money than Blacks. That a facts so, question is what American going to do about it.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 19:50:30

That's a neat narrative and all but it ignores several facts. The slaves that came here were captured and sold off by Arabs and other blacks, not whites. Slavery existed thousands of years before the U.S. did and was widespread worldwide, affecting every race on the planet at one time or another. The U.S. didn't invent slavery, as the left likes to pretend, although we were one of the first countries to formally abolish it-- even though none of the other countries are expected to eternally flog themselves over it. Most of the current population, both black and white, came here AFTER it was abolished and therefore have no claim for reparations or bear even one iota of blame for it in any case. A tiny percentage of the population owned slaves anyway-- all in the south-- so I can guarantee that neither MY father-- nor the vast majority of white people's fathers (great, great grandfathers, more realistically) ever "beat" nor owned anybody.

Lastly, we don't hold children responsible for the sins of their ancestors in this country-- so the whole topic is a waste of time and a distraction for the democratic left's benefit, anyway.

Slavery was abolished 150 years ago any lasting effects remain because they are wanted by the victims more so than the perpetrators. Certainly in the last 50 years blacks have in many ways been favored with opportunity, usually at the expense of other races.

Posted by cken on 2015-01-01 19:07:50

Guy, youre a obsessed sexist freak whose hobby is insulting woman, complete strangers, on the internet and abusing them with the foulest and most perverted taunting.

What the fuk do you know about "normal people"?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 18:44:58

Amen

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:43:38

The Italians suffered quite a lot as well. The Italians were the most lynched group - there was a huge lynching of them back in the late 1800's. Plus they were hated when they first came here and treated accordingly. Everybody has a violin to play

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:37:53

What better school than Columbia?

Bumfuk U?

And yes, even though Ive not had the misfortune of having to be a practicing lawyer, I too went to law school.

The University of Texas. A place where a psycho nutter like you never ever could have gotten into, no way, no how.

And since Im a man, you sad, disgusting and lonely, loser perv, its kinda hard for me to be a lesbian, though I seriously do try :)

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 18:30:57

Not to mention all the lives lost through blacks murdering others - how do you put a price on lives?

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:26:45

We don't hear about it because it isn't part of the narrative

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:24:46

Apparently no one on here even has any idea who Gramsci is which is probably why you only got two upvotes one of which is mine. Hardly anyone knows who he is.

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:22:32

We don’t have, like, uncles, aunts, grandparents that say, “I’m gonna give you $500,000 to do this project,”

That's funny, 99.9% of white people don't have that either.

Posted by Mike on 2015-01-01 18:19:56

I totally agree and wrote the same thing above before I saw your message. It would be worth it in the welfare money we would save plus all the crime that would disappear. It would be a bargain to never have to hear from these people again

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:19:51

Even though neither I nor anyone in my family had anything to do with slavery, segregation etc., I would be willing to pay reparations as long as it came with a one way ticket to Africa for anyone that accepted the money and this would not be optional and they would have to stay there. That way we would never have to hear any more complaining, whining, victimization from these people. We wouldn't have to deal with anymore Fergusons. We wouldn't have to deal with their high crime rate and we wouldn't have to pay for their welfare. To save us from all this in the future which otherwise would go on in perpetuity, it would be worth it.

Posted by rhcrest on 2015-01-01 18:10:24

I beat your SATs, went to a better school, and did even better on my LSAT (which you did not take). You have yet to compose a proper English sentence.

I'll bet you are an obese hairy lesbian with bad breath and fetid body odor. Do you fantasize about Lena Dunham?

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 18:09:37

Sasquatch™ is a souffle- A hard dried out outer crust, and mostly air inside. Your fat old gal will collapse when some bright new Democrat spark sticks a fork in her. Remember, a skinny do-nothing one-term Senator punked her soundly in 2008.

Posted by The Gimlet Eye on 2015-01-01 18:08:24

do you rub your thighs while writing out such misogynistic taunts you weirdo nutter?

But is healing the economic results doable by race-based reparations? As someone here mentioned, you could get a free college ride for the son of a black doctor, while the son of a white nurse's aide might bet old tough luck. People are afraid that would happen, or as we used to say, two wrongs don't make a right.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-01 17:53:01

Talk of reparations has been around for years. I was required to take an African American studies class to finish my Bachelors Degree and they were talking about it in that class. The problem is; there would never be enough. There is a segment of liberal society that is determined to visit the sins of the fathers on the sons (all the rest of us). It is why, unless you open up your wallets and pony up, there will never be any reasonable accommodation made. I was really not looking forward to taking the aforementioned class, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good class. Although I was amazed at how many of the white people in the class were afraid to speak their piece.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 17:44:40

I'm ready for Hillary... Ready for her to repay the millions she's extorted from PUBLC universities for "speaking fees", while students and families suffocate under mountains of debt incurred at these same universities. Now, she "donates" that money to the Clinton Foundation, whose primary focus appears to be providing private jet service (holy global warming!) for the Clintons. She's just a damn crook like her scumbag husband and her "hedge fund manager" daughter...

Posted by biscuitpoisoning on 2015-01-01 17:43:46

I do not want to be disrespectful Mr. Toles. And I do not mean my responses to be so. As I think much of what you say is heartfelt. But when you complain about the terrible way in which your grandparents were treated and so willingly point your finger at those of us who happen to have been born with a different skin color than your own, you are attempting to "visit the sins of the Father, upon the son." Slavery and its aftermath is something that just can't be fixed. If you want to talk about the things that we can do today to help make things better for all of our citizens, I'm on board with that.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 17:38:30

Only one of us writes in complete declarative English sentences (not you), and you accuse me of intellectual deficits. How amusing.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 17:34:23

Please-- which "privledge" is that? The "privledge" of a race-obsessed national media inciting mobs with false-narratives like "hands up, don't shoot", while simultaneously ignoring or burying the far more pervasive incidences of black-on-white violence like the hundreds of instances of blacks playing the "knockout game"? The "privledge" of being discriminated against by thousands of affirmative action/diversity policies that exist in businesses and schools across the country-- just as they have for decades? The "privledge" of being passed over for hirings and promotions to placate the Jacksons and Sharptons of the world and their various "RAAAACISM!!!"-shouting shakedown organizations? The "privledge" of higher standards on college entrance exams due to skin color? The "privledge" of trying to compete against racial set-asides and quotas in government contracts and loans? The "privledge" of being the target of the academic left's race-baiting greivance "disciplines" for 40-plus years? The "privledge" of being blamed for crimes we had nothing to do with?

Give us a break already with the "white-privledge" nonsense. The progressive democratic left feeds these narratives and cultivates your outrage and victim-fetish for their OWN needs-- to keep their grip on power. They care NOTHING for the black community beyond the votes they think they're owed. Anything to keep blacks and other minorities angry and voting democratic en-masse. They are the modern slave-masters-- favoring some groups and discriminating against others to keep their grasp on power-- just as their ideological ancestors did decades and centuries ago. All that's changed are demographics and progressive fashion.

Posted by TheInfuriator on 2015-01-01 17:31:46

Apparently you have issues with objective statements of fact about your heroine. How droll.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 17:31:03

OK so lodge away. Since it is not about me, and as long as you keep your hands out of my pockets, have at it. But, it is a monumental waste of time and energy.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 17:30:53

And blacks are still killing blacks. Some things never change...

Posted by Trayvon on 2015-01-01 17:28:14

To use your own analogy. No, when the man, who presumably is alive today, stops beating his wife, who also is presumably alive today, the marriage will not be "regular" in your words. It is a marriage that should have ended 10 years ago, by your account, and she should have thrown his ass out. But since none of the aggrieved parties, nor the perpetrators are alive today, it is silly to keep suggesting that the "white people," who are alive today have any complicity in what was surely a despicable crime against all of humanity. It is equally as ridiculous to aver that somehow the black people alive today, save perhaps for someone who is in their one hundreds, have any reasonable expectation for reparations. Actually, much worse than slavery, and where you might have a right to complain about the inequity in outcomes, is the period after the civil war when the slaves were allegedly free but had no status of any kind in the overall society. There is no way that whites alive today bear any responsibility for what happened during slavery. To continue to argue that only drives each of us further and further apart. What we should be doing, as a society, is accepting a responsibility to work through education to improve the lives of all of our citizens. No program can ever make up for slavery or the years since. We can work together to improve the lives of all of our citizens. But I reject even the hint of a suggestion that I or any of my ancestors bear any responsibility for what was done 200 years ago.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 17:27:21

Where did I "sing their praises" you nutter?

Youre very uneducated and very stupid.

Its you repubs and your financial masters who made the deals with the chinese generals that sent tens of millions of americans jobs to communist china and all you RWNJs have a serious boner for Putin.

So sorry dummy!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 17:26:10

my friend before I go further into this with you do me one favor calculate for me the value of hmm say 100,000 individuals labor Over the course is of a year(since you are talking current trillions, use current wages) and get back to me, still have t touched the unreal psychological effects of SLAVERY.

but trust me I'm black and I want to dismiss it like it never happened, so I understand the desire of white America to act like it never happened, especially since they didn't directly commit the atrocity. It still happened.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 17:18:34

I wasn't talking about their classes. listen it is so easy and tempting to say this happened 500 years ago. and still there would be some negative remnants, but this isn't even 200 years old(not even as old as it was long), my great grand mother was a slave, a slave. it's amazing when people pick and choose to use psychology. Again im not by any mean saying black people are blameless, but to say the conversation doesn't need to be held is ludicrous. imagine if a man beats his wife every weekend for 10 years, then his brother and him fight, then he says, " I'll never hit you with my fist ever again" and he doesn't, what you are suggesting is that they start a regular marriag from that point forward like nothing ever happened, I PROMISE you that will end badly, with the wife always taking the short end until she does something violent to her pathological husband, cause he will have the upper hand for years. I don't think folks understand slavery was 400 years long, empires had risen and fallen, and it ended less than 200 years ago. not necessarily reparations but the conversation needs to happen!

somethin people used to beat my great grandparents......with a whip

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 17:04:14

Oooohhhh, you must be very smart and witty Comrade. Your Uncle Joe and Mao are very proud to have useful idiots like you to sing their praises while they slaughtered millions.

Posted by chuck334 on 2015-01-01 16:53:47

I understand morals. I just don't understand your definition of morality. I think we, as Americans, have the right to opportunities. What we do with those opportunities (in 2015, not 1815) is up to us. Dignity and respect are earned; those are not automatic "rights". Now, do you understand?

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 16:30:20

You obsessed hobby7ists ALWAYS say the same exact things.

Polling dioesnt matter etc.

There is a reason that EVERY campaign spends its FIRST AND LAST DOLLARS on polling.

That you dont understand them or why wouldnt keep you from crying jubilant if your nutty candidate ends up leading in the GOP polls,

The truth is - its even worse for the GOP than the polls say because this no popular election, its ALL about getting to 270 and Hillary is inches from that number before the games even begin.

Sorry dummy. She wins in a walk. Deal with it.

If you think you know better Id expect youy to bet everything you have against her tonight because there is no way those odds can stay that way. Bet 50 Gs on Ayn Rand Paul - win a million! How can you not?

if they are losing to her at home - where theyve WON - how does anyone expect them to get to 270?

but polling shows she not only beats these gop hopefuls IN THEIR HOME STATES - she beats all of her opponents in every swing state too.!

LATEST POLLS!

http://www.realclearpolitics.c...

might i point out that the British betting houses STILL are so FUKCING sure Hillary will be returning to 1600 that you have to bet $10 on her to win $1, but you can get 20 to 1 odds against that loony Ayn Rand Paul..

if they are losing to her at home - where theyve WON - how does anyone expect them to get to 270?

but polling shows she not only beats these gop hopefuls IN THEIR HOME STATES - she beats all of her opponents in every swing state too.!

LATEST POLLS!

http://www.realclearpolitics.c...

might i point out that the British betting houses STILL are so FUKCING sure Hillary will be returning to 1600 that you have to bet $10 on her to win $1, but you can get 20 to 1 odds against that loony Ayn Rand Paul..

and thats before we even begin investigating and pounding your nominee.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 16:18:43

How's it looking for your gal Sasquatch™, hon ? Not too good:

Posted by The Gimlet Eye on 2015-01-01 15:54:07

Maybe we could ask the former mayor of Detroit.

Posted by Ledgewood on 2015-01-01 15:50:58

you are honest, but what happen to that trillions of dollars, must have been imagined that ??? Was it stolen , there need to be an investigation about these trillions that you said.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 15:43:22

So that your explaination for income inequality among races????That is a great Jim Crow explanation!!! You will help race relations???

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 15:36:12

You do not understand laws of Americans or the World , Any people of the world can lodge a complain about wrong. As long as a people that lodge the complain believed that is true.The complain is not settle until the a people believed that it is settle.Is not about you, It is about the people that lodge the complain.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 15:28:05

That is true. Inner city culture, with fatherless children (btw, not because of a "legacy of slavery", but because of dysfunctional welfare policies), is not of a sort that will facilitate wealth accumulation.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 15:26:04

its not that white people dont know what slavery and what jim crow did-- its that we dont give a shit --after the trillions in welfare reparations already and for what ? crime and base culture --thanks for the ebola and aids aswell---

Posted by bob on 2015-01-01 15:25:09

Maybe, but there definitely is none in the article.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 15:23:40

Going by the blood rule (one drop equals all) you would do better to put the Hispanic first. My wife is an American of Mexican ethnic background and I am of German extraction. My son, very un-politically correct refers to himself as a beaner-schnitzel.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 15:20:14

And neither, any longer, does Jim Crow or slavery apply to anyone living. Grow up. Get a life. You'll feel much better about yourself. History, is sometimes described as "his story." In other words the history is in the eyes of the narrator. We have allowed this conversation about slavery and Jim Crow to go on too long. It has resulted in a victim/entitlement culture that is destroying America. Slavery has no relevance anymore. Just as my "great White immigrant story" has no relevance anymore. You can only live today and try to plan for tomorrow.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 15:14:33

uh, perverted?

"old used-up yeast infested" "another worthless uterus"

you psychos are so pitifully un self aware.

its hilarious!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 15:13:54

I check the facts, Whites incomes and Net worth were far greater than Blacks. Maybe your imaginations had get the best of you????Your know like it , your Dream or comedy act ????

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 15:13:37

You really are one obsessed, hate filled, loser psycho arent you Jethro?

Sad.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 15:08:24

That was great White immigrant story. And the Whites in American gave youryour Parents the Jim Crow laws which help them and you. What a Great story which do not apply to Black Americans.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 15:06:15

Its the language of people so ignorant they have not a clue that they are ignorant. It's just entertaining to watch them come out on the comment boards in think they are proving something by demonstrating to the world how big a fool they are.

Posted by Liberalism_is_mental_AIDS on 2015-01-01 14:41:20

You really need understand the right, diginity and respect of a American citizenship.In which you do not respect, And that is a bad thing.Now , Do you understand morals?????

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 14:40:02

You beat me to it, but I would add that we've all paid large taxes to support families of bastard kids and I, for one, have yet to get a yard mowing out any of any of them even though I'm paying for the bastards.

Posted by Liberalism_is_mental_AIDS on 2015-01-01 14:37:39

I'll bet you're obese, pock-marked, perverted, on public assistance, and smell bad. Were you otherwise you'd not be ready for Hillary.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 14:35:48

And nobody, nobody, nobody in America today had anything to do with slavery at all. I am a second generation American. We are of Russian-German descent (i.e. of ethnic German extraction but emigrated to America from Russia). Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, at the behest of his German wife Kathryn, arranged to import landless ethnic German farmers from Germany and provided them with land in exchange for their feeding the Russian populace. The Germans prospered but during the Bolshevik revolution their lands were confiscated and more than a million ethnic Germans were murdered by the Bolsheviks. Those who weren't were sent to the gulag in Siberia to work the mines. My grandparent arrived in America in the late 1800's and early 1900's and were never involved in any way with slavery. It is just plain obtuse to continue this useless argument. Time to move on.

Posted by ronadolph on 2015-01-01 14:35:03

And anything blacks get, they either waste or trash.

Posted by Ted on 2015-01-01 14:29:42

History and Economics professors. Hmmmmmmmmm. Yeah, they don't bias their teaching with their opinions. Time to leave the "time worn" phrase "legacy of slavery" behind and see if the folks who insist on victimhood can find a way to live in the present.

The article shows how talk of reparations is becoming acceptable in the Atlantic and at Ivy League schools. I'm not sure that's really "mainstream."

Posted by Russ Neal on 2015-01-01 14:25:25

You're sort of all over the map, here, so it's a bit hard to follow. Since you mention "history", do you agree that Africans were captured by Africans to be sold to Europeans as slaves, with Muslim Africans acting as the middlemen? Do you know that Whites were enslaved during the same time, mostly in Islamic countries (it's where we get the "shores of Tripoli" stanza of the Marine Hymn). So when was this evil institution started and by whom? Don't know how the Jew-thing got in; do know the Jews were slaves for 400 years AND suffered the murder of their first born males on a fairly regular basis. But I'm not into relativism...or "poor me, I'm a victim" reparations. And, by the way, you didn't really answer my original post which can be summarized as: Blacks have squandered their opportunities with poor life choices and voting for the Dems.

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 14:20:08

I always like to read the storis about reparations because they are so divorced from any reality, they're like science fiction or iffy history. Very entertaining.

Regardless of arguments marshalled out of the historical aspects and relative contribtuions and rewards, any discussion ultimately has to boil down to who gives? who gets? who decides? Are Sasha and Malia net givers or net getters? How about Barack? or Michelle? What about Elizabeth Warren, after all, 1/32 or her cheekbones are high? Any discount for descendants of civil war veterans? Any credits applied for a half centruy of affirmative action? Any payments to those descended from indentured servants? Prisoners of the Japanese during WWII? Shanghaied sailors?

Sorry, but there are so many eggs to unscramble, it will never happen. And if it ever does, it will merely result in a different kind of bitter unfairness. Indeed, it already has. Look no further than affirmative action, school busing and "disparate impact" litigation.

Posted by pottfullofpith on 2015-01-01 14:19:40

They sho' is!

Posted by Blingster on 2015-01-01 14:18:40

Check your morals , they way out of balance.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 14:17:03

History and economics professors will tell you the great United States(not being sarcastic) would not be the country it is and have the standing it does were it not for 4 or 5 years of utter slavery and torture of a people, huh that wouldnt nealy be long enough to stain a people for generations.......oh oh my mistake that was the jews....try again without 10, no 50, no 200, no 400 years of free labor, so yeah white people died to stop an evil institution, that they should have never started, so that absolves them of the horrifying after effects. This is what I dont think people understand(and im not necessarily for reparations, but we have to have the conversation)it wasnt a minor thing that you just get over, that was the holocaust(not minor, but not NEARLY as devastating, and happening for that length of time actually gave it a unifying effect), this was multigeneational that sort of thing digs its way into your DNA(why do you think so many incredible athletes are african american). There was a book written a long time ago by willi lynch you oughta check it out.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 14:12:32

Right. And now it's called "taxation". Which I pay and you probably don't.

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 14:10:10

Great how he threw in "climate change." Makes this column even more humorous.

Posted by Ted on 2015-01-01 14:09:31

Hillary Clinton may not have accomplished much in her life, but after buffoons like Bush and Obama in the White House, I don't see how you can contend that the bar is so high that someone like Clinton isn't a credible candidate for the presidency.

and thats before we even begin investigating and pounding your nominee.

she wins in walk.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 13:59:20

wow i hear a lot of crazy stuff on here but that was the stretch of the day, please do some research, Obama is not even the worst president in the last 16 years let alone 40. We are still dealing with wrongdoing from the bush presidency.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 13:57:50

I can't wait to write checks to Oprah and Obama to make up for how this racist country has kept them down.

Posted by Rick N. Backer on 2015-01-01 13:55:49

Yes Blacks works hard , it was call slavery, labor for free. Which was not paid for very hard work.

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 13:53:16

You my friend are precisely correct on just about everything you say about black folks. You ever wonder where all those problems stem from, Im not even gonna answer it, but if you ask any psycholgist worth his salt, they will inform you. I sat a few times with a psychology professor at boston Univ and OSU(both of which i attended) and had this very discussion, at OSU he told me, he is quite simply amazed at the fact that things are not worse, 400 years is a looong time. Now im not saying reparations is the answer, but to just look at the crazy guy who has been battered on the head for a looooooong time as he is battering another guy in the head, is kinda cold and callous, especially when your father was the one to batter him in the first place.

Posted by toles5 on 2015-01-01 13:48:24

The problem with "history, period" is the revisionist view of "What Really Happened" as written by the liberals. Most recent example: Barack Hussein Obama is identified in sixth grade history books as Barack H. Obama even though he used his full name when he was sworn in, both times. May seem minor, but in future when the liberals are held accountable for the indiscretions of the 44th presidency and all the bad laws, lies, and transgressions by the MSM in its blind faith coverup of this man--and perhaps his REAL religious beliefs are made known, again in future--his middle name will not be brought into the story. For all people will know or remember, his middle name was Henry.

Posted by Kathy Young on 2015-01-01 13:45:49

The poor in this country have 2 cars, 2 cell phones, a flat screen TV and an EBT card to use for booze, cigs and casinos. On my dime.

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 13:44:12

There were WHITE people who died to end slavery in the USA.There were WHITE people who fought to end Jim Crow.There are BLACK and WHITE people who are fighting to keep Blacks in the politically-needy underclass. It's called the Democrat Party and you people are the fools who keep electing your plantation masters. Get off the reparations/welfare bandwagon, go to school and work hard, quit with drugs, get a job, get your daughters to keep their knees together and get married before you have kids. Oh, wait. Whitey is forcing you to make the wrong decisions, time after time, day after day. You're not responsible, you're a victim!

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 13:41:06

I hope she runs. Can't wait to hear her answers to "what have you accomplished", "what is your major accomplishment as Sec of State", "where were you when our Ambassador got murdered at Benghazi"? ReallyReady? Really? BTW, here's the answers, in order: Nada, the "re-set" with Russia and "gee, I don't know. Did someone get killed?"

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 13:26:18

Can't respond so you resort to crude attacks. Pottymouth!

Posted by MatthewMK on 2015-01-01 13:21:46

I expected trouble from my comment, but you made me laugh. Thanks!

Posted by Frank Natoli on 2015-01-01 12:36:22

Exactly. The average voter, even the average black voter, isn't going to have reparations on his top 5 list of concerns when he goes into the voting booth. Just like the mythical Republican "war on women" this is an issue that is dead on arrival.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 12:36:11

oh lord what a loser moron.

enjoy your life of envy, resentment and jealousy nutter.

youve earned it.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 12:29:36

I don't gamble, which is one reason why I live in a 4,500 sq. ft. home with a 40 foot pool and my own private gym on an acre of land in a private gated neighborhood. Enjoy Walmart.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 12:26:51

no kidding dummy.

so i expect you will take advantage of these incredible odds and bet against her today.

right dummy?

mortgage the double wide and sell the pick up jethro and bet it all!

and nutter, since you think there is any way that hillary loses the nomination to warren, that just shows what a half witted moron you are.

keep believing the media you moron and dont forget to bet against her - you truly deserve whats coming to you!!!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 12:23:52

oh really, no kidding.

i never noticed dummy.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 12:22:25

My reference is to the fact that you post the same thing multiple times, a-hole.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 12:16:16

You are apparently too stupid to understand how bookies figure betting odds. It has nothing to do with what the bookies think the results will be. Rather, the odds are adjusted to ensure that equal amounts are bet on both sides with the bookies taking their cut. The odds will change drastically between now and election day. Twenty-two months is an eternity in politics, and Hillarious Clintoon is an old used-up yeast infested feminazi goon with paper-thin support propped up by the media and Clinton machine politics. Obama is already throwing his support to Warren (another worthless uterus). The Secretary for Goldman-Sachs vs. Fauxahontas. What a dream match. You clowns are toast.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 12:15:17

when theres any change in whats coming, ill change my responses to you nutcase losers.

okay?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 12:11:14

Apparently you do suffer from Tourette's.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 12:08:24

When it come to issues of Black American , since the beggining, it is always a battle.1)There were people, who fought with there lives keep Black folks enslaves.2)There were people who fought hard to get keep Black under Jim Crow laws.3)There are people now, who will fight hard not to give Black folks there righteous dues.These people have lose those battles and will continue to lose the reparation battle..

Posted by jjones2630 on 2015-01-01 12:06:39

the British betting houses are so sure Hillary will be returning to 1600 that you have to bet $10 on her to win $1, but you can get 20 to 1 odds against that loony Ayn Rand Paul..

Sigh... The election is 22 months away. On January 1, 2007 Hillary was inevitable and unbeatable and Barry Obumwad was nobody. There is a reason that a nonentity beat the Hildebeast in 2008 - because she is a personality sink. The more normal people see of her the more she repels them. The next president is a Republican that you've probably never heard of.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 11:49:23

What kind of name is Ta-Nehisi anyway? Is it one of those Ugandan tribal things? Or a Detroit thing? Baltimore? And what's up with that silly hat?

Posted by Jamie Sthilaire on 2015-01-01 11:40:46

And not have to listen to the grandchildren moan about how they ONLY got $50K....

Posted by Karl Browne on 2015-01-01 11:32:03

You're just lucky that he only stole your watch and didn't rape or kill you in the process...

Posted by Karl Browne on 2015-01-01 11:31:06

But if you are not only white, but Anglo Saxon or Germanic type, Christian, male, and god forbid, on top of all those "sins" you are also heterosexual, the fees triple up!I'm white-Hispanic female. Here hoping for some discounts....lol.

Posted by M Decci on 2015-01-01 11:24:24

Yes, lol. I was thinking the same. "Mainstream"?! It's amazing how liberals like to twist and turn some non issues and transform it into whatever they want it to be. It's called wishful thinking. Coates wrote an article about reparation in the Atlantic. There were some 5 or 6 post commentaries on the article, like 90 plus percent of the comments were either against the idea or plain mocking it, and that was the end of it.To even know about it, you have to be a political junkie, like me who reads RCP and occasionally clicks on links..,from that to call it "mainstream" is a super stretch.

Posted by M Decci on 2015-01-01 11:20:09

Are you white? Than you need to pay and pay and pay and pay.

Posted by OptimusEpsilon on 2015-01-01 11:01:55

Whatever else you say about her (and I'm not a supporter of Hillary by any means) she is an astute politician. She would never make such an elementary mistake.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 10:51:30

Hmm. I don't have any ancestors who owned slaves, so I'm not sure why I should pay. However, I do have a few New Hampshire ancestors who fought on the Union side to liberate slaves. That should be worth something. Where should I send the invoice?

Posted by jollycurmudgeon on 2015-01-01 10:50:39

The idea of "reparations" hasn't been "mainstreamed". As a practical matter it isn't going anywhere, Salim Muwakkil's beliefs to the contrary. Outside of some black nationalists and Northeast liberal elites this isn't on anyone's radar screen. You'd think, after the failure of implicit reparations such as affirmative action and an extensive welfare state this idea would just die a quite death.

Posted by Joseph Lammers on 2015-01-01 10:49:20

Plenty of people in Africa would love to come here so they can work hard and make a good life for themselves in the land of opportunity.

Posted by Tardis1 on 2015-01-01 10:42:09

Compare the lifestyles of West African blacks to American blacks.

Consider the trillions of bucks wasted on the "War on Poverty," a lot of which went to blacks.

Blacks have gotten all the "reparations" they deserve. Now they're just whining and begging.

Posted by Henry Miller on 2015-01-01 10:32:03

how articulate.

Posted by AuldGuy on 2015-01-01 10:29:18

so, the race-baiting industry wants more free s#it for blacks. wow, what a surprise.my ancestors came from eastern europe in the early 20th century. no lineage to slave owners. do i have to pay too? they would say yes because, being white, i have had privilege.blacks are a lot like palestinians; they breed hate, celebrate victimhood, want something for nothing, reject the concept of personal responsibility and will be in exactly the same place they are now 100 years from now.

if they are losing to her at home - where theyve WON - how does anyone expect them to get to 270?

but polling shows she not only beats these gop hopefuls IN THEIR HOME STATES - she beats all of her opponents in every swing state too.!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 10:09:43

There are unpleasant things that happened in my ancestral Sicily that stopped happening 100 years before I was born. It didn't happen to me, and there's nobody alive who did it. Nevertheless, I would like advice on how to mainstream my claim to reparations. Any ideas?

Posted by Frank Natoli on 2015-01-01 10:09:24

My, how articulate. You must be a student of Al Sharpton.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 10:05:31

A worthy cause but a political non starter. The poor descendents of Civil War soldiers living in a trailer park in Western Pennsylvania won't agree to a free college education for the son of an African American dentist. The idea of reparations only provokes white racism and won't give one black child a stable home, decent neighborhood, or working school.

Personally, those of us with ancestors who fought in the Army of the Potomac have a different view. White reparations as President Lincoln would tell you were paid in blood at Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg.

Posted by Art of the Possible on 2015-01-01 10:04:19

Liberia is proof of what blacks do on their own, as well as the rest of Africa. even the dumbest blacks living here don't want to go there, even though they like to call themselves African-American. there is really nothing African about them at all. probably couldn't even point to it on a map.

Posted by Morphy Smith on 2015-01-01 10:04:14

hes done and youre a dumbaszz.

whaaaa!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 10:03:32

whaaaa!

hes done and youre a dumbaszz.

whaaaa!

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 10:03:00

blacks asking for money from whitey has been mainstream for at least 60 years. noting new.

Posted by Morphy Smith on 2015-01-01 10:01:39

you have to feel bad for anyone who thinks this is mainstream.wishful thinking of the fringe sad

Posted by rich in FL on 2015-01-01 09:48:04

Oh dear. What if we say NO.

Drop the what if.

What a puny plan.

Posted by VXXC2014 on 2015-01-01 09:37:34

You are a child and a raving lunatic. Nothing I have said is the slightest bit "racist" or "sexist," and if you disagree, prove it.

You are simply one of the brainwashed and evil minions of the left whose sole tactic is to slander and smear good Americans who aren't faithful little progressive soldiers like you.

You are a worthless human being.

Posted by hourglass44 on 2015-01-01 09:18:42

The odd thing is that black people in the United States enjoy a standard of living higher than any black people anywhere else in the world. And they complain more than black people anywhere else. It logically follows that if we reduce their standard of living by 80% they will stop complaining. It's certainly worth a try.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 09:13:34

It's racist to parody Ebonic English by the sarcastic use of phrases like "mo fo." You are guilty of microaggression. You are in obvious need of sensitivity training.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 09:09:26

Yeah, from the facts-are-racist crowd. Just for the record, the Hildebeast doesn't stand a chance. She's old, ugly, stupid, vindictive, and frigid. Her poll numbers go up when she is away from direct contact with people and down when she is publicly visible in real time. Please nominate this scum.

More idiocy from the make-up-a-stupid-pseudoAfrican-name crowd. Muwakkil, Te-Nehisi, indeed! They are as ridiculous as D'Waine, D'Shawn, Rastinique, or Shanikwa. What the Hell do they call the two trillion dollars micturated down the "War on Poverty" rathole during the last forty years? "Reparations" are not "mainstream" anywhere but in the fevered imaginations of these poverty pimps and race hustlers and among the limousine liberals of the Upper West Side and their Left Coast fellow travelers. Real Americans should all pitch in and buy these dipwads half-way tickets to Liberia.

Posted by ithakavi on 2015-01-01 09:00:28

Of course they want "payback. Me too. I want mine.

My heritage is that Im 1/4 native american (my dad's mom was dragged from her family far out west and sent to a indian boarding school in PA and she never made it home or saw her original family again) and irish.

My mom's grandparents were born in Galway or of parents born there. After they came to America in the mid andlate 19th century and up until WW 2 and my mother's generation, they all lived in absolutely utter poverty in the Irish ghetto in Wilmington, Delaware, with no indoor plumbing and outhouses in the urban alleyways. They all worked as gunpowder fodder at the (constantly exploding) gunpowder factories the Duponts had manned by the dispensable Irish emigres along the Brandywine river or as actual household servants for that family.

The Duponts lived like 17th century french royalty, in estates that would mock and dwarf the gaudiest of hollywood mansions.

East or West, North or South, American history is full of capitalistic horrors, the rich working the poor to death and oftimes outright killing them when they dared to fight back.

Just look at the history of how often the Pinkertrons were sent out to beat down or even slaughter those simply trying to get a raise in wages so their families wouldnt have to live like dogs.

If Coates's American ancestors had it any worse than mine did - Id be quite shocked.

Im a labor left democrat and I know our problems are class / economic and educational opportunity based - not racial.

My parents and their siblings, some got out because they played football real well and so got to go to college. Most did not. Of course, they all fought WW 2. Thats what changed things for most poor white Americans.

Full employment. In the service for the men, and for the women, making weapons for the government. If you didnt get killed or lose limbs, socialism at its best. Especially for the men, because they had the GI Bill and if they survived the war(s), they could get educated and stop being wage slaves for their DuPont masters.

Because I was raised by my mother to understand this, that the Irish were treated so horribly from before the turn of the century to ww 2 in my hometown, , I feel a total connect to the the poor, the poorly educated and the financially fukked,

Be they black, brown, red or white.

(Recent Immigrants too)

I know who my (and their) true enemy is. Its sad so few people commenting here actually do.

(Working class people and those without a four year college education - who even consider voting republican are being so manipulated and used by their true economic masters into hating and fighting others even worse off than they- so often using historic racial resentments to do it, well, it just makes me sad and sick.)

But, I call total bullshite on "reparations' and anybody who thinks they are any kind of a fair answer to anything.

Thats one difference between a Clinton Democrat and what I call - a Obamacrat.

Race based affirmative action is mostly bullshite too. Again, our real problems are class and economic and an unequal opportunity to higher education for the majority of americans, white kids too. (look at why 90% of those who join the enlisted military join - to pay for college)

As always and with all things political - its all about the money.

As Jesus said - "the root of all evil" etc.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 08:59:26

youre not very smart - are you honey?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 08:58:42

If there had ever been a chance of selling "reparations" to White people, that chance is gone with the wind due to the massive influx of New Americans. American of African descent have made a terrible tactical blunder by trying to get behind a non-White America, assuming that they, themselves would be its doyens. Not at all. Open borders have been a gun aimed directly at African Americans.

Posted by LouGots on 2015-01-01 08:56:31

Pray America Pray.When their is a flicker of sunlight on the far side of midnight their stands Jesus Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt.

Posted by stevenstanleys on 2015-01-01 08:38:20

That watch was partial payment for what somebody unrelated to you in any way, did 200 years ago to somebody totally unrelated to the guy who took your watch.

It's so simple.

Posted by Boxhawk on 2015-01-01 08:36:37

Just look at the fool's username.

Posted by Boxhawk on 2015-01-01 08:34:38

Aw... come on now... it would appeal to hillery's far left wingnuts. And hillery is a 'progressive' democrat - it does not have to be true.HB

Posted by Historybuff on 2015-01-01 08:15:36

As a white person, I am in favor of Reparations for anyone who was a slave before 1865. Anyone else, too bad. America is the land of opportunity. Quit bellyaching. Get an education, and make something of yourself!

Posted by John on 2015-01-01 08:05:14

Sure I know tons of white people whose aunts and grandmaws hand out 500,00 here 500,00 there. Its hard to take this fantasy stuff seriously.

Posted by Jeff Lynn on 2015-01-01 07:49:12

Are IQ test racist also.

Posted by Jeff Lynn on 2015-01-01 07:43:06

I would hardly say the idea is mainstream. It is still a fairly radical proposal that enjoys almost no support outside the black community (and barely a majority inside it).

It is all part and parcel of a time in America when it has become more fashionable to figure out how you can work the system to take what someone else has earned so that you don't have to work as hard yourself. It really is the hallmark of the Obama era, where success, merit and achievement have taken a back seat to "social justice".

Posted by dilsin on 2015-01-01 07:37:32

Dysfunctional culture inhabited by a major cohort of dysfunctional people. It is also one based on separatism, anti-intellectualism, sloth, and above all, an overriding sense of group victimology.

Reparations or not, what ails our indigineous urban peoples right now cannot be fixed with the transfer of large amounts of money. Eventually, those too will be squandered by irresponsible behaviors commonly seen only in our children or public wards of the state. Res ipsa loquitur.

Posted by Packard27 on 2015-01-01 07:27:20

There is a large contingent of white people who lack the wealth that Mr. Coats describes, especially in the wake of the Great Recession that took a lot of us to the cleaners. There is also a large contingent of white people who can prove that they were not in America during the slavery years. Politics is the art of the possible and it might be better to come up with ways to address lingering poverty that are not race-exclusive.

Posted by Alice Blue on 2015-01-01 07:20:51

The concept of reparations is intended to be just one more nail in the coffin being crafted for our nation and the Constitution which is why Coates makes clear he has more faith in the political process than taking to the people...Gramsci's "praxis" (process) in action incrementally socializing our youth. What is being taught to our kids in college is intended to produce a 'vanguard of the proletariat'; white privilege, fairness, tolerance and diversity which insists the US is no different from the rest of the world and needs to repent for its perceived evil because we are just one big apartheid state don't you know? Using our own children to put us in chains.

Listen closely and you can hear the whispers and murmurings on the "progressive" left and given voice by the likes of Sharpton and Jackson.

Posted by ReluctorDominatus on 2015-01-01 06:47:10

How about "get over it and get a job" Comrade.

Posted by chuck334 on 2015-01-01 06:05:21

My plan for reparations- Free DNA testing to determine tribal origin, free passage back to area of tribal origin for you and your family. Fair compensation or assistance to sell your possessions and any property. If you refuse said offer, SHUT THE HELL UP!

The idea of "reparations" is, like the reparations Germany paid after WW1, to assign blame. Coates denies this but I think the choice of the word is very deliberate in the context of how and when the terms's been used up to this point. For instance, he knows that it's going to be difficult to make the claim that young white children born five or ten years ago are morally guilty of anything let alone the evils of slavery but the use of a term like "reparations" will enable blame to be assigned properly without having to go through the messy and ultimately unrewarding business of assigning blame based on actual individual moral agency. White children, and their parents, will be determined to be "guilty" based simply on the race / class to which they belong rather than on anything they've actually done.

A brave new moral world we'll be entering, where you'll ultimately be deemed "guilty" based on belonging to a certain race. Albeit not completely dissimilar to the world envisioned by the Bolsheviks back in 1918, where you were deemed "guilty" based on belonging to a certain social class. We know how that turned out.

Posted by mabele on 2015-01-01 04:24:32

The British ended their involvement with the North African and Middle Eastern institution of slave-trading by offering and paying reparations .. to the slave owners. Saved two million lives and avoided a 60 year Depression amongst the lands of the slave-owners by doing it that way versus the American way.

Posted by CarbonaNotGlue on 2015-01-01 03:57:45

I remember back in the bad old days when all the White racists were warning that Black men if given the opportunity would drug and rape White women. Guilt tripping liberals would wail and knash their teeth claiming that doing so was nothing more than bigoted stereotyping, while they swooned over the civilized and non-threatening BILL COSBY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by TheRealBillybob on 2015-01-01 00:52:29

You're stupid. And what's a pimarie?I have a vague recollection of Obama and Hillary "debating" the finer points of socialized medicine. It was so unbearable that I have mostly blocked it out.What difference does it make, anyway?!

Posted by hourglass44 on 2015-01-01 00:43:11

Hehehe... youre a moron.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 00:40:46

yup.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 00:40:02

Thats REALLY stupid.

Did you sleep through the 2008 dem pimaries?

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 00:39:33

Nope. Im certainly NOT quick to throw out the R word:

Quite the opposite .

BUT

You racist mo fos are racist mo fos.

Its not complicated.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2015-01-01 00:37:59

I would be in favor of reparations with that condition, or, if we want to be more realistic, that all affirmative action programs and all complaints of white privilege end immediately. A modest request, to be sure, but even that small request could never happen.

And there's the rub: it doesn't matter how much money you give blacks, how many governmental programs are created to help them, or how much political pandering is done for blacks -- it will never be enough for them.

They will keep complaining until the day they die. And that is for one simple reason: they are miserably bitter human beings, and no amount of money can fix that.

Posted by hourglass44 on 2014-12-31 23:16:16

The equivalent of the national debt in real terms.

Posted by ReluctorDominatus on 2014-12-31 23:03:17

Actually, if blacks were willing to hand over their passports and take a one way ticket back to Africa with that $50K check we would be saving a boatload of money in the long run.

Posted by ReluctorDominatus on 2014-12-31 22:55:57

When I came in, the way to break into magazines was to do an unpaid internship. That’s just totally impossible for most black people. It’s the same thing with our loan problems. We don’t have, like, uncles, aunts, grandparents that say, “I’m gonna give you $500,000 to do this project,” or “I’m gonna support you while you live in L.A.”

And you think most whites do??

Posted by sukietawdry on 2014-12-31 22:19:16

I am sympathetic to the idea that Blacks were screwed, before and after slavery. Coates has raised specific instances of Blacks being defrauded, and when this fraud is disclosed restitution should be made. But (this is from memory) the War on Poverty cost was equal to the entire value of the Fortune 500 as of about 1999. Since then, we have contributed additional trillions to the poor, including Blacks. At what point is the debt paid?

Obama is a Marxist psychopath who is intent on destroying the social fabric and the economy. Blacks are the worst off demographic under Obama. Psychopaths do not care who is worst off, as they want to destroy everything as psychopath Hitler destroyed Germany and psychopath destroyed Japan. When Republican Lincoln freed the slaves, the idea was to make Blacks free and independent, not to make them dependent and weak.

Posted by Dracovert on 2014-12-31 22:16:37

The entire black culture is that of a parasite. Why work when the host provides everything you need to survive...

Posted by jwp on 2014-12-31 22:11:33

you can't take s**t away from me, j-off. because what i have isn't based on my skin color "privilege", you idiot. it's based on the sacrifice and relentless hard work that are my personal domain. ____ ___, lizard.

Posted by subframer on 2014-12-31 21:33:58

After the war on poverty. After affirmative action. After preferred college placement. After gerrymandered voting districts. After reparations.What next?

Posted by Henry Hansen on 2014-12-31 21:33:19

___ "ta-nehisi" and all like him. the worst thing that could ever happen to black america would be "reparations." the money would be poorly used; and the subtext? "you can't make it, so we'll pay you off." and everything, everything, will be exactly the same. same rampant crime, same poor educational performance, same anti-social rhetoric, same clinical marginalization. so don't say ____ to me "ta-nehisi." despite the "work" of hacks like saiim muwakkit, your ideas on reparations are, and will remain, way out on the fringe. where they belong.

Posted by subframer on 2014-12-31 21:31:21

Shrillary doesn't need to even mention reparations to get the black vote. All she needs is a 'D' after her name.

Posted by Henry Hansen on 2014-12-31 21:27:25

LOL.. Just because Al Sharpton is now a "presidential adviser" it hasn't made his ridiculous, race baiting, garbage "mainstream."

Posted by bluesdoc70 on 2014-12-31 21:19:43

I am white. I came to this country as an immigrant in 1958. Neither I nor my ancestors had anything to do with slavery or injustices done to blacks. Reparations? From whom? Not me.

Posted by Bernd_Harzog on 2014-12-31 21:06:10

My, my. You are certainly quick to throw out the R word: the final refuge of fools who have lost the argument.How exactly is it racist? Have blacks not cost society trillions in the way I say?

Posted by busterthepug on 2014-12-31 20:57:49

Excellent quote. Thank you.

Posted by busterthepug on 2014-12-31 20:54:56

You could write every black American a check for $50,000 tomorrow, and 90% of them would blow it within a year.

Throwing money at the problem doesn't solve a damn thing.

Only blacks can solve their own problems. Here's a hint: start by correcting the problem of 70% plus children born into fatherless households.

And that is a problem entirely within their control and having not one iota to do with your precious "racism," you monumental jacka.ss.

Posted by hourglass44 on 2014-12-31 20:51:44

I hope and pray that Hillary loudly proclaims her advocacy of slavery reparations.

And I hope Hillary loudly proclaims her Republican candidate foe a "racist" once he disagrees with the asinine idea.

That would most certainly sink her chances at winning.

Posted by hourglass44 on 2014-12-31 20:46:19

What makes you think reparations have been made "mainstream"? And as usual, Coates has nothing definitive to say on the matter.

Posted by sukietawdry on 2014-12-31 20:41:54

Mainstream? There could be a deal on the basis of blacks give up their citizenship and move back to Africa.

Posted by jb willikers on 2014-12-31 20:20:23

Yep reparations are important; so the 600,000 dead in the civil war about covers it.

I live in Michigan... most 'public schools' are funded by local property taxes... which is generally NOT a partisan issue. (except when the MEA has pay raise & retirement issues at stake.)

Republicans are far more likely to pay local taxes... and then pay even more to send their children to local Christian schools instead. In fact, Republicans will, and do, pay more than 'progressive' democrats. HB

Posted by Historybuff on 2014-12-31 19:43:30

Good mention... one does not hear this much. A branch of my family did just exactly that for the slave families they owned... in 1863.HB

huh? The big bubble of self-focus by the 'progressive' democrat's lives on....

I know of no one that can even listen to Coates pitch for 'reparations' without giggling.HB

Posted by Historybuff on 2014-12-31 19:23:00

Not shocking.

Just racist.

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2014-12-31 18:24:19

Booker T Washington had people like Ta-Nehisi Coates figured out:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles,the wrongs,and the hardships of the negro race before the public. having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles,they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. some of these people Do not want the negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their Jobs".--> Booker T Washington

Posted by diggferkel on 2014-12-31 18:20:19

Only In these Times would actually think "reparations" has been mainstreamed......

Posted by Pancho on 2014-12-31 18:20:05

My heritage is that Im 1/4 native american, (my grannie was dragged from her family to a indian boarding school and who never made it home or saw her family again) and 1/2 irish who up until WW 2 weregunpowder fodder /servants for the Duponts in Delaware.

I want mine.

If my ancestors had it any better than Coates's did - Id be quite shocked.

Im a labor left democrat and our problems are class based - not race.

I call total bullshite on "reparations".

Posted by ReallyReadyforHillary on 2014-12-31 18:05:44

And never come back including their descendants.

Posted by Liberius Lucanus on 2014-12-31 17:56:45

As long as everyone - including the Africans that profited from the trade - pays their fair share.

How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton andLinda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped tothe New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04...

Posted by Goldcoaster on 2014-12-31 17:48:09

I'm all for reparations. That is reparations for generations of discrimination and suffering endured by my Irish Catholic ancestors who fled being starved by the British in Ireland to face discrimination and hardship for being Irish and being Catholic. Discrimination that continues to this very day, and that has become Government based, as Obama tries to force Catholic Nuns and other people of faith to knuckle under and provide abortion pills or be forced out of business and even from providing charity. And really before we discuss reparations for African Americans should we discuss reparations for Native Americans. They didn't suffer slavery they basically suffered what amounted to Genocide, and they were here first. I'm sure that Hispanic American, especially in the Southwest U.S. whose families lived here when the area was part of Mexico would like to sign up. I would imagine that somewhere in there Italian Catholics, Polish Catholics, etc would all like to get on the reparations gravy train. Also when we get to African Americans should African nations share in helping pay those reparations? As I understand it most Africans sold into slavery to be transported were stolen and sold into slavery in Africa to be transported to the U.S. by other Africans, or African tribes? And should we provide reparations to the families of the Northern soldiers who died or were severely injured in the Civil War? I mean without their sacrifice slavery might never have ended? Also I assume that the cost of paying reparations to African Americans, anyway, will only be paid by those Americans whose ancestors were here in the country prior to or during the civil war? My Irish Catholic ancestors came over in the 1870s after the civil war as did most Italian American, Polish Americans etc? Surely only those with guilty ancestors who actually owned slaves should be taxed or charged for the cost of reparations? So I'm fine with mainstreaming reparations as long as the cost is born by those with guilty ancestors, and we share reparations all the way around with all the groups that have faced horrific discrimination in our country?

Posted by valwayne on 2014-12-31 17:42:30

What exactly is 'privilege' and how would you take it away?

Posted by Dave W on 2014-12-31 17:34:59

"Housing discrimination"

LOL dude start taking some responsibility in your life.

Posted by Dave W on 2014-12-31 17:31:48

Actually, I'd be willing to sit down and take a data-based look at the reparations argument. So lets take a look:

1) You start with the estimated hourly value of manual labor in pre-civil war America2) You multiple the figure from (1) by the average number of hours worked by a slave3) You multiple the resulting figure from (2) by the aggregate number of slave-labor years4) You subtract the uncompensated cost of housing, feeding, and clothing incurred by slave owners5) You subtract the value of any property appropriated to former slaves at the end of the war from their former owners6) You subtract the value of welfare paid to African Americans since the end of slavery7) You subtract the financial cost of additional government programs designed to improve the academic or financial position of African Americans8) You subtract the value of non-Black-owned property that was destroyed by Blacks during the race riots of the past century9) You subtract the improved financial position of any Blacks who have benefited from programs like affirmative action10) You adjust for inflation11) You divide the resulting amount among all African Americans living in the United States today who can reliably trace their lineage back to slaves.

......do you really think you end up with any kind of substantial positive amount per head? I would be highly skeptical. And this doesn't even get into the fact that, whatever the evils of slavery in antebellum America.....the descendants of African slaves living in the United States today are likely vastly better off in their current position than they would be had their ancestors not been forcibly brought to this country.

Reparations are a mildly-interesting intellectual debate...but they are not an answer to the current position of African Americans in the United States. Many other groups have come to this country in an even less favorable position than that of Blacks after the civil war, and have risen to be remarkably prosperous and successful. When we can honestly state that Blacks are doing everything in their power to advance their own lot - and that includes improving the 70%+ of Black children born out of wedlock - then we can start talking about what remaining duties MIGHT exist on the part of White America.

Posted by Matthew Kilburn on 2014-12-31 17:30:00

All the former slaves are dead. What does "black nationalism" mean?

Posted by matimal on 2014-12-31 17:23:02

I am all in favor of reparations for any man, woman or child who personally underwent the degradations and hardship of slavery. For anyone born after the Civil War reparations are simply another attempt at getting free stuff at the expense of someone else.

Posted by TheATLMAC on 2014-12-31 17:22:59

I'm willing to bet the amount already paid to black descendants of slaves on welfare is more than any amount of reparations owed.

Posted by Warren Dew on 2014-12-31 17:18:22

Certainly we should have reparations. Since blacks are about 13% of our population but are about 50% of our violent felons, then blacks should be forced to pay reparations to the rest of society.

Posted by don76550 on 2014-12-31 17:03:00

Thank you for posting this video.

Posted by CapitalistRoader on 2014-12-31 17:01:58

Th eonly "reparations" I would be willing to consider is $100,000 and a one way ticket to South Africa...turn in your passport and relinquish your citizenship at the gates please. There are 5 million white South Africans I would gladly exchange for the Africans here who really don't care about anything but taking what they can from those who have earned it. One yank died for every 10 blacks freed in the Civil War. That's payment enough.

Posted by ReluctorDominatus on 2014-12-31 17:01:25

Ta Na-Nehisi is an old and honored Swahili phrase for con man.My family has been in America since the late 1700's. They settled in PA and eventually move to IL. Several of my forbearers served on the Union side in the Civil War. No way do I believe that I or mine should pay for reparations, not after the trillions American taxpayers have paid for public housing, ADC and Food Stamps for what has become a dependent black underclass. It is also very difficult to argue that the current status of the black inner city family is due to slavery. In 1950 80% of black children were born to two parent families. Today less than 30% are. What has damaged today's black communities is not slavery but a plantation welfare system and the nations worst public schools.

Posted by jkk1943 on 2014-12-31 16:58:40

I'll take reparations for my white immigrant ancestors who were wronged as well. Don't forget to factor in the ongoing expense of the great society as well as adjust the value of life and property of the civil war. I think I might be due a refund.

Posted by dude on 2014-12-31 16:53:17

You mean to tell me that welfare, food stamps, government housing, free education, affirmative action, having a black president, and free healthcare aren't enough? A question: What WOULD even be enough? Answer everything would never be enough for the losers.

Posted by Jay Teigh on 2014-12-31 16:24:53

Sorry I can't take your kind and these lectures seriously. If you were just as enraged about the waste and cronyism of the rich as you are with others I might take you seriously but we both know your not.

The fact that some public school teacher some where might be receiving due process or collecting a modestly higher salary than a non-unionized worked sends people like you into an indignant fury but massive bailouts for bankers making hundreds of millions while there companies fail or billions for fighters that don't work bring forth not a peep.Hypocrites

Posted by bill on 2014-12-31 16:19:14

Reparations, people who never owned slaves paying off people who never were slaves.Who could argue with that?

Posted by AmosJones on 2014-12-31 16:12:01

How many people who win the lottery become productive and hard working?

Posted by bestfriend on 2014-12-31 16:06:13

Coates is a repetitive, not very interesting pundit who zealously removes comments that don't agree with him from his blog. Stanley Crouch or Thomas Sowell he ain't. He is preaching to the choir, and reparations will go nowhere. Go tell new Latino and Asian immigrants (let along the tens of millions of white immigrants who showed up after the Civil War) about the concept of White Guilt. See how that works out!

Considering that African Americans have higher wealth, longer life expectancy, better health, more education, more world famous names of note and 10 points higher IQ than plain old Africans, maybe WHITES are owed reparations by blacks, especially factoring in crime and blighted mostly African American cities like Newark, Gary, Camden, East St. Louis, Detroit, New Orleans, Oakland and Memphis?

2014 has been a terrible year for African American relations with the rest of America. People are tuning African Americans out.

Posted by Commissar_Wee_Wee on 2014-12-31 15:51:41

Well said.

Posted by ObamatheIllinoisIdiot on 2014-12-31 15:43:01

I have the American dream: big pay, two homes, & a happy family. I used my white privilege to get this happiness. My parents were unimpressed by my white privilege when I was in high school. They made me go to class, do homework, and study. However, I only graduated because of my white privilege. I joined the military by using my white privilege. I had to pass a physical exam and a mental test, but I got in due to white privilege. My white privilege got me two tours to Asia. I went to college with my white privilege too. I had to pass an entrance exam, study night and day, and attend classes, but white privilege got me through. I got hired by a guy who liked my white privilege, my resume, and my work ethic. I’m now the boss. That white privilege always works.

Posted by ObamatheIllinoisIdiot on 2014-12-31 15:41:40

If you think reparations are mainstream, you're swimming against the flow. Your article was as poorly reasoned as TC's.But should the stupidity known as reparations ever come to pass, I want some from the slimeball (or decedents of) that robbed my grandparents.Yup. Punishing people for something they didn't do. Priceless stupidity.

Posted by markw571 on 2014-12-31 15:36:13

H.R. 40, the House bill...which would create a commission to examine the impact of slavery and suggest remedies.

We have a remedy:

360,000: The number of Northern troops dead in the Civil War.less 70,000: The number of black Northern troops dead in the Civil Warequals 290,000: The number of white Northern troops dead in the Civil War

There's your reparations right there.

You're welcome.

Posted by CapitalistRoader on 2014-12-31 15:29:49

Why is anyone even giving air time to this BS?

Posted by Poppa on 2014-12-31 15:13:18

the democratic tent will get smaller and smaller until they return to the main stream. the promise of America is opportunity for all, not a "free lunch" for some. as the "victimized" population seems to grow, the results will get further and further away. every child born here should have an equal opportunity, not a vague promise of an equal outcome. stay in school, respect those who would help you and keep working for a better life. don't take the easy path of blaming others for your personal failings. man up !!!!!!!

Posted by jefferson's words on 2014-12-31 15:08:08

Sorry. "Reparations" are not mainstream. They remain the misguided, radical idea that they've always been.

Posted by Highgamma on 2014-12-31 14:57:55

"When you kill a massive amount of people and you push them off their land and then build a society on top of that, you probably owe them something."

I take it then that the Scots-Irish are also due reparations....

Posted by Choceur on 2014-12-31 14:33:35

Speaking of history, how do you feel about reparations for Native Americans?

When you kill a massive amount of people and you push them off their land and then build a society on top of that, you probably owe them something.

Hey, we gave them some bling, same as you when your ilk said earlier, "Hands up or I'll shoot."

Posted by Ken Shaffin on 2014-12-31 14:18:16

It's always fun to write analyses that begin with the conclusion.

Posted by Ken Shaffin on 2014-12-31 14:08:02

How about "mainstreaming" stuff like going to school, not committing crimes, not having babies that you need welfare to take care of and other wild off-the-wall stuff like getting a job? Crazy, I know, but maybe give it a try.

Posted by Trayvon on 2014-12-31 13:59:09

As Inigo Montoya might say of the writer's use of the word "mainstream", "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means".

Posted by Turbo on 2014-12-31 13:54:03

Welfare. You've been handsomely paid. Now, stop having babies in single-parent households at a seventy-percent rate, because that is the single best predictor of poverty and poor life outcomes.

Stop thinking that "acting white" is bad. If it means doing well in school, learning to read, do math and properly articulate your thoughts, you need it.

It will help you get an education and a job.

Continue to articulate in a manner not useable by an employer, wear your pants around your knees, and take no personal responsibility for your actions, then you can expect to remain unemployed, in poverty, on the public dole, and without any respect.

Posted by Richard McCargar on 2014-12-31 13:34:37

That's because they were so efficient in wiping out the people that settled the U.S. before they did (Kennewick man, et. al.). Now there's no living person from that line to call for reparations from the Indians. Nice job! Bet you're glad the Europeans were a bit more civilized.

Posted by Piranhakeet on 2014-12-31 13:29:55

I wish I had "like" an uncle, aunt, grandparent that said, "I'm gonna give you $500,000 to do this project" or "I'm gonna support you while you live in [wherever]". Christ, what a load of nonsense. And then the line about different court/media/school systems to make reparations possible. Does Mr. Coates seriously believe that not a one of these "systems" doesn't already cater to the "victimhood" ideology? He as much as admits that our elite Ivy League institutions do so (not that this should surprise anybody). And as far as "they" built this entire country on "our" work--well, this line alone proves just how little Mr. Coates knows about the history of this country and about how much he'd like to re-write that history to further his own narrative. This country was built on the work and the know-how and the sacrifice of countless millions of individuals from every ethnicity. Economics, which Mr. Coates trots out (in a vague way) to support his hobby-horse, is anything but a true science. Economists have been churning numbers for decades in an attempt to buttress their theories. I have no doubt that Mr. Coates can find an Ivy League or West Coast economist to give credence to the case for reparations.Mr. Coates, why don't you do this country (I mean this WHOLE country, not just one part of it) a huge favor and write something that will draw people together? Instead of writing articles like the one you did on reparations (and making, I have no doubt, millions off of the speaking fees you're commanding as a result of it), why don't you write something honest and less polarizing? Don't we already live in a polarized enough society? Who are you to tell us that the only way we will achieve any "fairness" in race relations in this country is to start discussing reparations for the evil that was slavery (and that, in your mind and the minds of so many others, continues through today)? No, America has not lived up to all of her storied greatness through history. And slavery is the one indelible stain that will always mark us as being less than we strive to be. But unlike so many other countries--unlike so many other civilizations--at least America strives to be more.Why don't you do the same?

Posted by toomuchthinking on 2014-12-31 13:29:30

Took the words out of my mouth.

Posted by Piranhakeet on 2014-12-31 13:21:00

"...and reinserted the issue into our political imagination."Imagining things is fun.

Posted by Kwame on 2014-12-31 13:19:31

Do I get reparations for my ancestors who died fighting for the Union army in the Civil war? Imagine all of the "ancestral wealth" I was robbed of. The bottom line--a half-million white people paid in blood to end slavery in the U.S. Instead of trying to shake us down, the race agitators might want to consider thanking us.

Posted by Piranhakeet on 2014-12-31 13:18:20

I guess progressives have a different delusion as to what constitutes "mainstream." Thanks Obama.

Posted by gnadfly@gmail.com on 2014-12-31 13:12:18

I read the entire article when it came out, and found it preposterous. The housing argument is especially silly. Because a black person freely agreed to enter a punitive and one-sided contract to buy a house, the government has to pay reparations? The same argument will apply for payday loans and used car stores. You can't fix someone's own ignorance by paying them off.

Posted by Chicagoan on 2014-12-31 13:07:48

“I know I’ve been ripped off, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t know the science behind it.”Hysterical.

Posted by Francis on 2014-12-31 12:59:57

Take a number. My mother's side is partly Greek.

Posted by Vino on 2014-12-31 12:57:21

Unbelievable. While I'm not going to deny that African Americans certainly have suffered from the legacy of slavery, I'm also not willing to pay any kind of reparations for something that ended 150 years ago, that I was not involved with, and which my ancestors fought to end.

Haven't the trillions paid out for the Great Society and the War on Poverty proven that just throwing money at a problem doesn't solve it?

This perpetual victim-hood mentality has to stop and people need to start taking responsibility for their own lives without always looking for someone else to blame.

Posted by Elessar1 on 2014-12-31 12:56:16

I have seen this defense used on other occasions where instead of addressing someone's actual point they generically refer back to the article. The article has many flaws. It seems to rely heavily on an individual's bad experience. It also uses housing data in regards to redlining that has been disproven. It is littered with all kinds of "facts" to give an overall negative impression. What does a 14/1000 infant mortality rate have to do with anything? Is life so much worse because an extra 7/1000 kids don't make it? Does he realize the abortion rate of black pregnancies?So again the article doesn't address obvious questions and it is unfocused in making its case. So instead of having yet another unfocused, generic response why don't you try to address the specific differences you have with posters.

Posted by AustinCGlass on 2014-12-31 12:50:39

My ancestors came from Ireland after the civil war. Why should I pay reparations to people who were never slaves, because I am white? Will we somehow right a wrong that happened 150 years ago by perpetrating another wrong today? Does anyone that is black get these reparations regardless of whether their ancestors were slaves or not, is black skin the "I get paid card"?

Frankly Ta-Nehisi can blow it out his choice of bodily orifice.

Posted by Walther11 on 2014-12-31 12:38:58

Everytime some window licking liberal complains about 'white privilege' all I hear is how jealous that person is that white people work harder and smarter and are all together better than the person doing the whining.

Posted by Heywood Jablowme on 2014-12-31 12:38:43

How about we DO pay them... to leave. If you are black and think you are owed reparations, fine. But along with the money your going to get an apology by the US Governement for allowing your parents to enter the country as slaves, a legal document renouncing your citizenship of the US and a plane ticket to the country of your choosing in Africa. Sayonara. Arrive derche. Bon Voyage. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.

Posted by Chris C Hanson on 2014-12-31 12:38:41

Why the hell should black people get money just for being black? They'll just spend it on rims and weed.

Posted by Heywood Jablowme on 2014-12-31 12:36:09

As a Nordic-Slavic american , can I get reparations from Germany & Russia?

Posted by Libertarianski on 2014-12-31 12:28:25

Slavery was something that existed worldwide for centuries. No race was spared from being enslaved and all races owned slaves. So why would we single out American slaves of African heritage? Are they better or worse off than the ancestors of those that sold them into slavery and remained in Africa? What would reparations do and who would pay them? Would I have to pay them because my skin pigmentation is the same as those who owned slaves in this country even though my ancestors moved here after that period? What about American citizens whose ancestors were enslaved elsewhere at other periods?Honestly the idea is rather childish and entitled. You have to completely ignore very obvious questions and problems to even consider it. I find it strange that Coates has been propped up the way he has. The website in which his essay was originally published went to great lengths to silence anyone criticizing his piece in the comments section. If the idea has so much merit why do they have to shut up those that question it.

Posted by AustinCGlass on 2014-12-31 12:26:11

at the end of the civil war they got reparations 40 acres and a mule or that amount in cash. the area I live in, was settled in 1860's from land grants gave to blacks in 1866. you can tace the records back to then at the courthouse.

Posted by bluejay63 on 2014-12-31 12:23:41

Isn't it amazing all the other minority groups that have come to this country just in the last fifty years and succeeded, assimilated, and thrived. Look at all the Vietnamese refugees that arrived here with nothing but what they could carry and not even being able to speak the language. They met resentment and discrimination. After all, their countrymen had killed over 50,000 American boys even while they arrived here. How about the Iranians that fled their country after the Ayatollah took over. They seem to be doing well as a group. Same with the Cambodians and Africans from Africa. Ask a Nigerian what he thinks of the black American.

Next time you go to the doctor's office look at the Chinese and Indian names listed. They are immigrants of the children of immigrants who arrived with nothing and thrived. You hear any of them asking for reparations.

Posted by Kizar_Sozay on 2014-12-31 12:20:16

The bible say asked and it shall be received.I believed in the scripture and as a people like all other people.must believed that this wrong will be made right.It was wrong to denied us and we must believed in our hearts and minds, that God will make it right like he said he would.( like ending slavery,Jim Crow,et)And reparation will happen.Thank Mr Coates for your good works.

The commenters so far (67 by count), clearly haven't read the article. I found the same reaction from my friends - a violent rejection of the idea without the slightest effort to understand the argument.

Posted by MaxFenster on 2014-12-31 12:12:15

Blacks have had their reparationsIt was called the Great Society and it has been nothing more than a prelude to self-genocide going on 50 years nowTrue intelligence is defined by clarity and grounded by realityMr. Coates demonstrates a grasp of neither ...

Posted by Michael Cee on 2014-12-31 11:58:26

What do you call affirmative action and the trillions spent/wasted on welfare programs over the years other than reparations?

Posted by Tree Top on 2014-12-31 11:53:17

What is truly sad is that the author and the subject of this interview actually believe that they are helping their cause and the lives of black Americans, rather than hurting them. I keep waiting for the day when African Americans realize how a reparations movement or the "hands up don't shoot" lie or Al Sharpton are so counterproductive to their success in this country.

Jason Riley and Ben Carson and Walter Williams have the answer; they know the true way forward. And yet most of the rest of the black community so easily embraces the idea that someone else can or will solve their many problems. It is a false hope, and it will continue to be a false hope, forever. The U.S. can authorize billions in reparations....it won't matter. Until the community learns to stop destroying itself, things will never change.

The inevitable next step is that blacks will start losing support from other minority groups that they currently take for granted on an "anti-white" basis. Latinos, Asians and Arabs will not demand reparations or talk about how they can't succeed in this unfair society--they will just work hard, take care of their family, get rich, and assume more and more power. They won't give it away to blacks as white people have. Maybe that's when the message will finally sink in.

Posted by Chicagoan on 2014-12-31 11:52:59

How about if we couple reparations with repatriation? Considering the cost of welfare and crime, it would probably be cheaper in the long run if we just paid them to leave.

Posted by RepublicanDon on 2014-12-31 11:40:37

I would actually support this if it ended ONCE and FOR ALL set asides, quotas, all the legal discrimination that goes on in favor of people of color. can we make reparations and call it even? get back to a level, open field in hiring, tuition assistance, everything? or will people take the money then still insist on more special treatment? at some point contemporary people cant blame their lot in life on historical acts decades or centuries ago; but as I said, if this would square up for past offenses and we could all move on I would support it

Posted by Mike Green on 2014-12-31 11:17:42

Coates didn't "mainstream" reparations. The short flurry of attention his comments got has already subsided. I very much doubt that your article is going to revive the issue (in the mainstream).

Anyway, by the end of his discussion, Coates admitted that he wasn't talking about any hope for actual reparations - he was talking about more "conversation" and some "re-education."

Posted by RonRonDoRon on 2014-12-31 11:11:07

Publishing an article in Atlantic doesn't make it "mainstream". Reparations aren't mainstream, it's wishful thinking by a couple of black guys

Posted by pbab on 2014-12-31 11:08:15

Mr, Coates and his "logic"show how well Affirmative Action has worked over the last forty years. We have a President who is grossly incompetent in nearly every measurable way, yet listening to C-Span show black callers constitute the majority of his favorable callers. Today, based on one callers logic, I am a racist because I call them Blacks and call Europeans white.

Yet Cornel West can use the N-word in every verbal usage (noun, verb, adj...) and I can't without ruining my life and he'a a tenured professor. Yet now after forty years of punishing my poor white Slavic and Irish relative applicants for set asides and government quotas on hiring or filling college ranks to be "reflective of society" that;s not enough. I see Mr Coates saying the Irish, Slavs and Jews who arrived in America after 1866 must pay not only for all the freeloaders in addition to the blacks on ACA and the general tax to city, state, and federal big government policies I don't approve, I need to pay for the five acres and a mule promised in 1865 plus interest accrued, because blacks just have it too hard in White privileged society and those tough marijuana laws.

They praise Rev Wright and Al Sharpton and criticize the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln until now, who actually are raising all groups economic standards by work, education, and personal responsibility. If the NY & DC teachers union would stop their blind hatred of vouchers or school choice all youths would benefit even the low track kids holding the group back. Two quick points for the C-span callers calling President Obama wonderful , because of lower gas prices. Please, it has nothing to do with Obama's policies. How great we would be if we could criticize any man or woman based on their character instead of the color of their skin. Why are Justice Thomas, Condi Rice, Tom Sowell, Sen Scott and Rep MIa Love all despised by the blacks and called "Uncle Toms"? That's right. Because DEMS have a pure heart and REPS suck because they want freedom, self responsibility and fair pay for equal effort and a father in the family Last after nearly seventy years of the war on poverty how much more will we spend to keep the blacks from firing on the cops?

Posted by Don Obie on 2014-12-31 11:04:22

To Coates:

Everyone is born with a clean slate. For that reason, under common law no one can be made to inherit a debt. Therefore the best and only reparation is a level playing field. If you don't think there is one now, then describe how it is not (in structural ways and not simply in terms of outcomes) and explain how to get there. Anything else that designates beneficiaries and debtors not based on anything they have suffered or received personally would offend peoples' sense of fairness. Mine anyway.

The other thing is, reparations would never achieve true equality. Equality can't be given, it must be achieved. If a black man needs a white man to get him up off the floor, that's not equality, that's dependency. In my view reparations is just a word for dependency as an entitlement.

Posted by haithabu on 2014-12-31 10:55:02

The RACISM of Eugene Robinson, L.Z. Granderson, Charles Blow, Ta-Nehisi Coates, race pimps Al "TawanaBrawley" Sharpton, Jessie "Hymietown" Jackson, and the Democrat Party generally is OVERWHELMING, everything from the Ku Klux Klan (Robert Byrd AND William Fulbright, people!), to Al Gore Sr. and George Wallace to Lyndon Baines Johnson! In FACT, what we see today is largely the fallout from the LBJ's Great Society, wherein America has squandered over $23 TRILLION on anti-poverty programs, the sole purpose (certainly, SOLE OUTCOME) of which, has been to HUGELY degrade the Black American family, and everything that springs from a cohesive and intact family unit! Race pimps like Ta-Nehisi Coates are simply CONTINUING the "gimme" sham, in addition to the efforts of Barack Hussein Obama to make good on his promised objective, that being to"fundamentally remake America!"

How about letting this be a "wake up call" to the underlying issues? How about "waking up" to the FACT that Black-on-Black murder rates are HUGE! How about "waking up" to the FACT that Black-on-Black crime is HUGE! How about "waking up" to the FACT that ONE OUT OF THREE Black men is part of the jail/prison system! How about "waking up" to the FACT that 73% of ALL Black babies are illegitimately born (read that, born into FATHERLESShouseholds)! How about "waking up" to the FACT that many, if not MOST, Black students CHOOSE to perform abysmally at academic achievement in securing a FREE education, paid for by the taxpayers!

WAKE UP; lay the blame for the FEWOF MANY problems within the Black culture that you cited, where they belong! LBJ's "War on Poverty," established AFDC MANDATED regulation whereby there could NOT be a man in the house, in order for the woman to fire up her own FREE "government ATM dispenser,” thereby institutionalizing generational dependency and today's 73% Black illegitimacy rate!

Why do you suppose, after LBJ enacted the "War on Poverty," he said, “I’ll have those ni**ers voting Democratic for the next 200 years?”

Who are you to assert and assign privilege as a pejorative intended to suggest opportunity exist that are not accorded others. That's pure B.S. and signifies your own bigotry toward others you disagree with.

Posted by CosmotKat on 2014-12-31 10:41:03

Does this mean we can get a refund on the trillions spent on the War on Poverty and War on Drugs?

Posted by Shore101 on 2014-12-31 10:40:24

The idea and concept of reparations is the fools errand that could only belong to a racist hater like Coates. History is filled with the conquerors and the conquered and slavery of all races and creeds. Reparations have been paid through affirmative action, and the tolerance of all people as wait patiently for the American Black to fix their own culture and stop blaming everyone else for their descent into dysfunction and chaos. When does the shame of their inability to move themselves forward without help become the glory of their revival as a meaningful culture?

Posted by CosmotKat on 2014-12-31 10:38:41

My grandparents didn't arrive here until 1892. I don't owe anyone reparations. Incidentlly, The Treaty of Ultrech (1713) granted England the monopoly to supply African slaves to Spanish and English colonies in America, so the majority of slaves brought to the Americas arrive on British ships. Make the British pay the reparations.

Posted by William on 2014-12-31 10:33:38

Mainstreamed an idea that still has zero chance of happening. Zero. This is the main problem black people's intellectual leaders have in the US- they sit around trying to find ways to get white people to give them stuff.

Posted by Yancey Ward on 2014-12-31 10:20:28

Exactly how far back can one pursue reparations? I bet the Chinese think that the Japanese owe them something for Nanking. I'm sure the Irish think that the Brits owe them. I imagine that the Carthaginians think that the Romans owe some. And lets not forget that the Pharaoh owes the Hebrews. And ... on and on and on.

Only in Identity-Politics America is this idea entertained as "enlightened". If this does not stop, eventually our Balkanization will lead to civil war.

Posted by rtcdmc on 2014-12-31 10:04:14

Truly absurd from a representative of the most violent, racist, and parasitic ethnicity in America.

Posted by Smargalicious on 2014-12-31 09:59:25

It's very difficult to get good adults out of crappy families.

I don't know how to get there from here other than start taking children out of drug, alcohol, crime, and generally dysfunctional families and put them in state run orphanages, and educate them.

It's not the kids fault. It's the diseased black culture taught to them by their parents and their peers.

Posted by Chuckiechan on 2014-12-31 09:58:50

I tithe at the church, which operates a lot of charities serving all races.

Posted by Chuckiechan on 2014-12-31 09:54:35

Can't help but think that reparations would hardly be a thought had liberals years ago not perversely corrupted -- I do mean perversely -- affirmative action.

The reparations bill has been paid for, in full, with blood. 140,414 Union soldiers died to free the slaves. Now Mr. Coates wants a pay day? Stay Classy!

Posted by John_Galt_04401 on 2014-12-31 09:50:42

There will never be an end to racism as long as their are people whose jobs depend upon it.

Posted by John_Galt_04401 on 2014-12-31 09:46:20

Bingo. I believe Maxine Waters' husband was in on that one.

Posted by People on 2014-12-31 09:41:16

Ha, your ancestors got slaughtered!!!!

Posted by David on 2014-12-31 09:40:15

Dumb as a stump. There is exactly no non black activist constituency for reparations, and the whole issue is a means of self promotion by its advocates. Nothing more.

Posted by 633 on 2014-12-31 09:39:25

hate to burst your bubble but the cherokee fought on the side of the south, in fact chief stand waite was the last confederate general to surrender to the north his army of the trans mississippi made up primarily of cherokee, muskogee and Seminole. cheif john ross owned twenty slaves. the cherokee brought their slaves with them on the trail of tears.

your just as guilty as the rest of us johnny rebs.

which is to say not at all

Posted by miketompkins52 on 2014-12-31 09:38:45

They owe the United States reparations.

Posted by disqus_749fiys on 2014-12-31 09:38:09

I want reparations for the negroes who burglarized my house in San Diego in 2001.Seriously, Salim, Ta-Nahisi, if we're making racial payments, I'm expecting a couple million.I will be expecting it from you, personally.I don't care much for you "folks", you're going to find me a very not-nice fellow.

Posted by Jake Swenson on 2014-12-31 09:32:07

There would be no fairness in a "commission" to discuss reparations and Coates and nationalists know this. How would those who disagreed with reparations be perceived and portrayed? We know damn well how....they'd be called racists and bigots. The game would,be rigged....not a fair fight. Get real.

Posted by Gent on 2014-12-31 09:29:24

Are you talking about the public schooling whose lack of results we bemoan year after year? Or are you talking about the generation after generation of kids they flush down the toilet?

I'm sorry your reading is so limited.

Do yourself a favor and look up a map of our Democrat / "Blue" States.

Next look for a map of States wherein Public Union dues are compulsory. No choice, whether you want to or not, the State takes money from your paycheck - your wages - and gives it to the Union, which then gives it to the Democrats. When this practice is curtailed, such as recently in Wisconsin, membership in some Unions - the choice - dropped by 2/3rds.

The overlap between the two maps *is* Liberal Politics. Institutional capture, no choice. You might find some Republican objection there. If you want extra credit, research total political contributions to each party before Citizens United. You'll see what Liberals are pinning for are the days when 2/3rds of political cash went to the Dems. And largely accomplished through institutional capture. Citizens United allowed individuals to participate directly and protect their anonymity, ie their reputations, livelihood, themselves and their families. The demonization of the Kock brothers - individual actors - is tactical, and not substantive by monies spent.

COMMON, collective, "the things we do together" is the manner Dems operate, my friend. They want your money but not your voice. Sorry.

Posted by People on 2014-12-31 09:29:12

You have found a sure method for remaining an underclass in America - Embrace victimhood and wallow in it.

Posted by Sam on 2014-12-31 09:27:35

This whole concept of "reparations" is utterly absurd. How does one decide who owes whom? How does one decide how much is owed & for how long?

Far better it would be for the black community to do some serious self reflection & focus on how it can solve its problems on its own. Meantime, the white community should adopt an official stance of absolution of any responsibility for things that happened so long ago. Time. To. Move. On.

Posted by Gray Panther on 2014-12-31 09:20:31

Proud members of the black nationalist movement, huh ? By all means, here is some money and a one way ticket to your new nation. Has to be cheaper than the $40 trillion spent since the Great Society days of LBJ.

Posted by wolverineconservative on 2014-12-31 09:20:15

Neither major national political party supports this and the one more likely to possible support something along these lines got crushed in the first national election following Coates' article. This is nostalgia tripping and nothing more serious.

Posted by Eric377 on 2014-12-31 09:19:19

My privilege was deciding not to open those little square things the teachers handed out with little squiggly figures on paper. They actually expected me to learn to read those squiggles, and accept that as knowledge for use in navigating my way into a job and a respectable life.

Instead I went my own way, and rather than act "white" I decided to stay ignorant in the ways of "whities world", and live my own life my own way.

I think I may have made a mistake not taking advantage of the education offered to me.

Posted by Chuckiechan on 2014-12-31 09:17:32

Put your money where your mouth is. How much of your earnings (assuming you have any) are you willing to fork over to the black community?

Posted by Gray Panther on 2014-12-31 09:17:14

Anyone who thinks that Reparations have been "mainstreamed" has not been paying attention to politics over the last several years.

Posted by kantishna on 2014-12-31 09:16:40

If you really, really want to destroy race relations in the U.S. go ahead and get reparations.

Posted by JohnnyFreakinSunshine on 2014-12-31 09:14:08

If you want reparations go get them from the decedents of the African tribes that rounded up your ancestors and sold them to the Muslim slave traders who delivered you here.

America has spent billions and probably trillions trying to turn your race into average middle class Joe Six Pack citizens.

If anything, you owe us money.

Posted by Chuckiechan on 2014-12-31 09:13:12

now blacks want money for doing absolutely NOTHING except being black? LOL. seems about right.I have another suggestion. free ticket to Liberaia. started by ex-slaves in Africa. a real cesspool.

Posted by Morphy Smith on 2014-12-31 09:04:27

I think the decades of freebies that these worthless blackies have been getting is more than enough. Time to send these feral apes back to the African jungles.

Posted by David on 2014-12-31 08:52:41

That will be covered in H.R. 41. There will be a minimum of 15 other groups claiming reparations. Blacks are nuts if they think they'd be so special that all others would be ignored. My personal favorite would be Japanese-Americans would had their houses taken from them when they were interred in camps during WWII. They really, really got screwed. So let's not forget about them or American Indians. Each Indian might be owed ten million or more for the lands taken from them.

These people are all idiots. You could give Tahini enough rope to hang himself - here, have all the Socialism/Communism/Authoritarianism whatever you'd like. Unfortunately, he and his ilk would take you, your family, and your community down the loser hole as well. And in that pit, he'd still be yammering on.

Posted by People on 2014-12-31 08:37:36

lol.we have reparations: affirmative actions, set aside contracts, different standards for civil services jobs, an extensive welfare system designed to keep people on the plantation.

I don't mind sending a check to 45 million black people for something that my ancestors (who came to American in the 1930s) had nothing to do with .... as long as it means that we do away with the system of racial preferences we have constructed.

Posted by jondaly on 2014-12-31 08:36:06

Reparation for descendants of the dead & mayhem done to Union soldiers should also be called for. After all, they gave it all in the abolition of slavery!

Posted by ItsPolitics101 on 2014-12-31 08:32:47

If nothing else this article illustrates how divided BOTH sides of this discussion really are. MAINSTREAM? That notion could only come from someone who is massively separated from the world as it IS. Reparations may be mainstream in Salim's world, but it isn't mainstream in the part of the world that he imagines will pick up the tab. Getting your face on the cover of The Atlantic in a country that barely reads does not constitute mainstream.

Posted by mrdon on 2014-12-31 08:32:33

Then you will also agree that reparations be paid to descendents of all the dead & disabled Union soldiers who, for many, laid down their lives and others destroyed their ability to support their families in that great endeavor to abolish slavery, right?

I didn't think you would agree, lib!

Posted by ItsPolitics101 on 2014-12-31 08:28:50

Slavery still exists today. Women and children are sold as sex slaves. ISIS is kidnapping those who don't believe the way they do and selling them as slaves. Shouldn't we focus n eradicating the real slavery in the world first before e spend limited resourses to make up for past slavery?

Posted by jeffrx on 2014-12-31 08:28:46

Coates made an extremely intelligent argument, but he failed to make the big one. The political case. To be sure, blacks have only one party. Therefore, one must ask if Democrats will go to the mat for reparations. The answer is "NO." If blacks want to improve their lot, they need to focus on the possible. Expecting reparations is like waiting for Godot.

Posted by robert stephens on 2014-12-31 08:27:51

Hey, African Americans, you've got Detroit.

Posted by Kwame on 2014-12-31 08:27:11

It is really irresponsible to continue to encourage this fantasy. The only way for the increasingly squeezed working class in this country to get its head out of the vise is to put aside differences and work for the COMMON good of all.Can anyone seriously imagine the Republican congress agreeing to consider reparations? They don't even want to pay for your public schooling!

Posted by bill on 2014-12-31 08:26:21

Another black man that takes no responsibility for selling his brother into slavery to the white man.

Posted by ConstanceUnderfoot on 2014-12-31 08:13:32

Mainstream? Joke, more like it. Hey, the English beheaded my ancestor, I lost my rights to a castle, land and title, and now I live in America. Sure that was 1743, but I want my castle back, waaaaaaa.

Is America today America of the early 1800's Ta-Nehisi? No. So cry me a river, but no reparations.

Posted by ConstanceUnderfoot on 2014-12-31 08:12:24

Kind of like the government Pigford settlement cash machine for African-Americans.

Posted by Poor62 on 2014-12-31 08:08:50

I am highly in favor of reparations because as soon as they start paying, I get to go to the front of the line. The Cherokee Indian has been wronged by the white man and the black man. Buffalo soldiers had a part in our treatment as well. More power to you, but in the end, the American Indians get it all back.

Posted by Missouri_Conservative on 2014-12-31 08:07:56

So lets look at facts. Would the African-Americans living in the U.S. be as well off or taken care of by their government in any African country? Maybe these people need to see how well off they are in the U.S. before they start demanding payback. And what about all of those white soldiers that died in the Civil War to make sure African-Americans were freed from slavery, do their families get anything or did they just die in vane?

Posted by Poor62 on 2014-12-31 08:07:42

Or does the black community owe America reparations for the trillions blacks have cost us in crime, policing and futile welfare programs over the decades?Shocking throught, isn't it?

Posted by busterthepug on 2014-12-31 08:06:29

None of these fawning pieces ever discuss H.R. 41 or H.R.42, the bills having to do with other groups of victims claiming they got screwed. This country could be mired in 10-15 bitter debates about who got screwed the most.

Even if the country proceeded on the reparation track, can you imagine the process of payment making? Blacks with no personal family history of slavery would be seeking the same level of reparations as any other black. The public would see that blacks just simply want money based on race, not on a slavery connection. Then, you'd also have this ugly aparthied type analysis of people's race. Anybody with the slightest amount of black blood in them would want their share of the pot. The darker skinned blacks would object because they would want the money for themselves.

At the end of the day, I'd guess many thoughtful blacks would wish the issue had never arisen. Plus, they'd have to hear about a billion times: "you got your money. Now you gotta shut up!"

Posted by mistermcfrugal on 2014-12-31 08:00:26

So, both the author and tanishi think most white people have aunts, uncles or grandparents with a half million to give to relatives to pursue their dreams. 538 pegs average white household net worth at $141k. Reality doesn't matter when you're pushing for a handout.

Posted by Woody13 on 2014-12-31 07:59:46

Funny--I don't see the work and effort to succeed as "privilege'. But I guess if you are incapable of either, you could see it that way.

Posted by Mike678 on 2014-12-31 07:48:34

I'm not at all unsympathetic to the concept of reparations, but in pragmatic terms discussion of the subject is just a circle jerk that some black people for some reason enjoy, and virtually all white (and latin, and asian) people will continue to ignore.

Posted by penalcolony on 2014-12-31 07:39:57

I want reparations from the black man who stole my watch.

Posted by Stephanie Kelley on 2014-12-31 07:36:58

Yawn, whatever.

Posted by Harrycanary on 2014-12-31 07:35:16

There is no way that reparations should be considered over something that ended over 150 years ago. Unless of course another civil war is the desired result.

Posted by Harrycanary on 2014-12-31 07:34:23

BHO don't care - he is already cashing his in and then some ?

Posted by John Lennon on 2014-12-31 07:31:07

Another angry white afraid his privilege will be taken away.

Posted by Ronald Pires on 2014-12-30 17:09:52

Another angry black with a chip on his shoulder. You want reparations? Get them from the Africans you sold you off by the millions. You already have affirmative action and food stamps.